Fact, Faith, Feeling

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” — John 1:12 (KJV)

Meyer has a chapter with a catchy title: Fact! Faith! Feeling! He says these three words have to come in the right order.

Most people try to put feeling first. They wait to feel close to God before they believe anything. Meyer says that is like trying to build the top floor of a house before laying the foundations.

The right order is: God’s facts first, as the foundation. Then our faith, resting on those facts. Then feelings, which come, he says, “it may be at once, or after the lapse of days and months, as God will.”

He compares God’s facts to stepping stones across a stream. From a distance you wonder whether you can get across. But when you come down to the water and see how firmly the stones are set, you can trust them and step from one to the next.

So what are the facts? Meyer lists some. It is a fact that God loves you with “the tenderest and most particular love”. You may not feel it, he says, just as the sun can be shining on a house with all its curtains shut, but your not feeling it doesn’t change it.

It is a fact that because of Jesus, nothing stands in the way of your being forgiven and accepted. And it is a fact that as soon as you trust Christ, you are God’s child. “You may be a prodigal or inconsistent child,” Meyer says, “but you are a child.”

He tells a story from the end of the American Civil War. After peace was signed, some soldiers kept hiding in the woods, starving, because they didn’t know or didn’t believe the war was over. Their families were waiting for them at home. Their not believing didn’t change the fact that peace had been declared. It just kept them miserable.

That is what happens when we let feelings rule. The facts are true whether we feel them or not. Stand on the facts, trust them, and in God’s time the feelings will usually follow.

One thing to do this week: write down three facts from the Bible about God’s love and your place in his family, for example John 1:12, Romans 5:8 and Romans 8:1. This week, read them every morning before you check how you feel.