A handful of years ago I got the idea to color in my bible just like I did in second grade. I picked two of my favorite hues: pink and green. Every phrase in which the Psalmist expressed his feelings, I highlighted pink. In the places he proclaimed God’s truth, I colored the words green. The result was an interesting pattern: Pink, green. Pink, green. Pink, green. Feelings, truth. Feelings, truth. Feelings, truth.
This reminded me that God’s plan which leads to transformation and freedom in our lives involves the blending of our emotions with His truth.
What if we live only according to our feelings? There will be no genuine transformation, because emotions alone are often untrustworthy and can be based on lies. But what happens when we only acknowledge God’s truth and stifle our emotions because “It’s the Christian thing to do”? Transformation remains elusive, because we’re living a life of denial about what’s really going on in the depths of our hearts.
God wants to merge what we know in our heads about Him and His Word with what we feel in our hearts. Only then can faith be life-changing. This means that we allow God to touch the messy places of our internal lives. We engage our emotions and cooperate with God to blend them with His truth.
I had an opportunity to implement the Psalmists’ practice today when I unintentionally did something that bothered someone I care for. Insecurity flooded my heart and I shamed myself for making an innocent mistake. I immediately went into self-protective mode.
Don’t love because that way it won’t hurt when you disappoint people. If you don’t love, then when you mess up no one will be able to reject you and you won’t ever get hurt that way. Keep your distance.
After an hour or beating myself up (this never helps, by the way), I realized that these negative thoughts were pointing to painful feelings in my heart. I knew I needed to give them to Christ so I could receive a healing word of truth from Him. Feelings, truth. Feelings, truth. Feelings, truth.
After a few moments in a quiet place with the Lord and confessing my honest emotions, the following words flooded my mind. I believe they were from the Holy Spirit. His truth was erasing the lies and bringing liberty.
You will fail. You will mess up. Therefore, you must believe in my grace and power to transform, that I bring healing and light into any circumstance. You must believe that I am able to work within your failures, otherwise you will live in fear and demand perfection of yourself. This will only lead to bondage. Do you believe I am bigger than your wrongs? Greater than your failures? If you do, you can rest in the truth that I am greater than—and sovereign over—your mess ups.
When I received these words from Christ, it liberated me from the self-condemnation and sadness I had felt moments before.
Just like He did for the Psalmists, He gave me His healing truth when I gave Him my feelings. Thank you, Lord. You are the Giver of all light. I know where to run. And when I bring my heart to you, and I listen to You, you will give me your truth to liberate me. Praise you, Lord.
Digging Deeper: Do you need to confess your emotions (even if they are “ugly”) to God so He can set you free with His truth? Are you reluctant to be honest with Him? If so, why? Keep in mind that He already knows, and He wants to develop intimacy with you as you share your heart with Him.
Additional Resources
The Blueprint for Life eight week study will help you discover God’s will for your life! You will discover the life you were born to live. The study contains a workbook and ten drive-time audio messages on mp3 CD, featuring Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, Tony Evans, John Maxwell and others. Now available for digital download. Click here to check it out!
