Grasping Grace

As summer is coming to a close, a myriad of feelings and thoughts crowd my already filled mind. Thoughts of classes, classmates, roommates, job, future things, relationships, and ministry. As women, many of us have an extraordinary capacity to hold endless amounts of thoughts, memories, feelings, and “things-I-still-have-to-do’s” in our minds. At the same time, it is amazing how the smallest happening, circumstance, word, or action can cause our feelings and emotions to fluctuate. Within an hour, we often experience a flurry of emotions: joy and sadness, hope and fear, love and anger, and thankfulness and jealousy.

God has uniquely created us that way, but He did not intend for those thoughts and feelings to dictate or control how we live. Regardless of how we feel, we must actively put aside our “feelings” and emotions and do what is biblically right and most excellent. In regards to offering our lives as worship to the Lord, I love what Elisabeth Elliot writes in “Let me Be a Woman”: “Very often (nearly always, I’m afraid) when I come to church my feelings are uppermost in my mind. This is natural. We are human, we are “selves,” and it takes no effort at all to feel. But worship is not a feeling. Worship is not an experience. Worship is an act, and this takes discipline. We are to worship in “spirit and in truth.” Nevermind about the feelings. We are to worship in spite of them.”

Remember in the Garden of Eden when Eve was tempted and ate the fruit that God forbid? Note what the text says was her reason to eat it: “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took the fruit and ate it…” Genesis 3:6. Eve saw the fruit. It looked delicious, it looked beautiful, it might even allow her to know more. Based on her reasoning and her feelings, it seemed good and was a delight! So she just took the fruit and ate it. What were the consequences of her actions? You know the rest of what happened (Genesis 3).

As I was reading these, I rewrote what Elisabeth Elliot said to reflect life in general, “Very often, almost always, as soon as I wake up and start my day, my feelings are first and foremost in my mind. This is natural. We are humans, we are “selves”, we are women, and it takes no effort to “feel” at all. But living a God centered life is not a feeling. It is not a performance, it is not impulsive decision making on the whim. Life is an active and ongoing journey that takes discipline and thought. We are to live in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ (Philippians 1:27). Nevermind about the feelings. We are to obey Christ and die to self in spite of them.”

I urge you to purposefully set aside a time to think and pray about this coming year. How will you push aside those feelings that dominate your actions? How will you fill your mind, so that your life will be dictated by truth? Let God alone be Lord of your life.

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