The dietician looked straight into my eyes without hesitation and mincing of words, “You are going to have to think about what you eat from here on out!” I told her, “You sound like my primary physician.” She had already viewed the lab results from my doctor. She didn’t say it, but her very words were an eye-opener because I have never looked at it from an intellectual way. All of my life. Up to that point, I have been eating by my emotional disposition at the time. I never was in a world of dieting so I didn’t, dare I say it, think about watching what I was eating.
This imperative by my health coach was not to maintain my existing manner of eating and just cut back on my portions, et cetera. It was practically a jettison of all the things I love to eat. On my current path, however, I was heading for trouble for going by my feelings about what I ate.
Three months into this new arrangement, I have lost a considerable amount of weight, and my glucose level is staying below 100, but I am sort of paranoid about sugar now, natural or not. Whenever I stroll through the aisles at the grocery store, I see a world of sugar in everything. It is like we have this fixation on sugar, honey this and honey that, and the food manufacturers do not seem to have a problem with producing that which sells. I cannot fault them because the choice of moderation is out there. I fell into what I described as the A.T.E. syndrome – afraid to eat for fear of violating the redline for sugar intake!
During the early stages, I was a bit overly cautious but for good reasons. Nonetheless, I got quick results and planned to maintain that course and hopefully grow savvier in my approach in order to expand my eating selections. It is impossible to avoid carbohydrates and sugar completely, but now I am at least looking at the world of food from a healthier and wiser perspective in what I am taking into the tank than ever before. I am examining the nutritional stats on everything and wrangling with portions to strike that balance. Honestly, it is a love/hate relationship, but I ate myself into this medical condition, and I have to deal with the consequences.
I was never afraid to eat until my doctor got up front and personal with me after looking at my glucose levels for the past three months. I loved him for it for he was concerned for my medical well-being as my physician and friend. I suspect the truth is more in line with keeping me around longer so I could pay him more money for services rendered! He tells my family that I am not right, and they agree, particularly, my wife!
But let me tell you what I know to be spot on, spiritually speaking; we can ill afford to worship and serve Yahweh by our feelings alone. It is spiritually unhealthy and leads to serious spiritual trouble. This is a book-size discussion, but I wanted to throw out a couple of things for your consideration on whether your spiritual diet is more Word-driven or driven mostly by emotions.
Wouldn’t it be something if you could prick your finger and put a drop of blood on a test strip that fed information to a handheld device that reveals your spiritual level? Okay, in the real world, it doesn’t work like that for so many reasons. If we want to know how we are doing, we need to ask God about it. I will give you a hint; if you are in violation of His Word, you already will know what He is going to say.
I honestly don’t know why people claiming to be believers continue to think that they can love God or others in the name of Christ, or what they imagine to be love, and ignore His Word! They just don’t get it or don’t want to get it. How precarious it is to live out a comfortable fiction though there is a preponderance of evidence from Scripture to the contrary! It is as if they are saying, “Don’t confuse me with the facts; I know what I believe.”
It appears that there is a populist notion in Christian circles that intellectualism is inferior to emotionalism. Knowledge or intellectualism is associated with the doctrine which has become somewhat of a negative word that is considered to be too sectarian, divisive and offensive. Dogma builds walls that separate people, creating an unloving spirit, indifference, legalism, and self-righteousness. Love, on the other hand, is the olive branch that offers a bridge where there are differences, uniting rather than polarizing.
God created us with emotions. To say our feelings do not matter would be too reckless. They do matter but not at the expense of biblical truth, but to also look at knowledge as if it is something to be feared and replaced by our feelings is also unfounded and irresponsible. Who knows their true motives? God does. Most who feel this way probably have never read the Scriptures with a desire to know the truth about God.
Paul and Timothy had been praying for the Colossian believers after hearing of their love in the Spirit, asking God that they may be “filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,” and that they “may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col 1:9-10, emphasis mine). The last recorded words of Peter are these, “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 3:18a, emphasis mine). He was crucified not long after this. You get the impression if Peter had to do it all over again, he would, except for the thrice denials.
What you have when emotions or feelings supersede the intellect is something mushy over solid, subjective over objective, feelings over fact, no standards, no accountability, human love trumping all, mixing of light and darkness, easily offended, political correctness, overly sensitive, judgmental, undulations in faithfulness, and a breeding ground for heresy due to a lack of the knowledge of God. Conversely, if intellect boots out our feelings, there is nothing but coldness, a heavily regulated religion, ritualistic, and a legalistic environment that can be rightly construed as Pharisaic in nature. Ironically, neither polarity exemplifies the love (agape) of God.
Before hammering down on me about doctrine. Do you believe in Jn 14:6? I hope so because if you don’t, you are not a believer for one thing, but think how polarizing those words of Jesus really are. He is on point in saying that all religions are wrong for He is the only way to the Father (cf. Acts 4:12). If you truly believe in Jn 14:6, you are jumping right into the thick of right theology!
How many times can we wave our hands in the air and sing God is love or holy? This is the extent of the Christian populists’ theology! It goes no higher than the ceiling and no deeper in truth though I would concur that God is love (agape, that is), and God is holy. Some pastors have a greater concern today that people worship God in their own style of music rather than disciplining their flock on a correct theology of God. Perhaps there is a fear of losing membership? We certainly don’t want to offend people; do you mean like declaring you believe Jn 14:6?
Listen to the words of Hosea, an Old Testament prophet,
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children” (Hos 4:6; cf. Hos 4:1; 6:6).
The rejection of the knowledge of God is a sin. And you know what? We cannot apply what we don’t know! The Israelites in Hosea’s day were guilty of spiritual harlotry or idolatry. How can a Christian populist’s mindset worship and serve the one and true God without knowledge of Him? How can they praise and adore Yahweh who are comfortable with only feeling and without knowledge of Him? Ignorance is a fertile breeding ground for heresy to germinate. The words of Jesus in Mt 15:8 are chilling,
“THESE PEOPLE DRAW NEAR TO ME WITH THEIR MOUTH, AND HONOR ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME.”
Would to God those who are motivated and driven by feelings would read and take the words of the prophet Jeremiah to heart,
(Jer 9:23) Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
(Jer 9:24) But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these, I delight,” says the LORD (emphasis mine).
What was the point of the inspiration of Scripture (2 Tim 3:16-17) that spanned over 1500 years, involving 40 authors across three continents if the knowledge of God is unnecessary? How do we know people think this way? Because the greatest threat to Christianity today is from within not from without. It is ignorance of the Scripture that reveals God to man.
It has been said that you can have knowledge and not be wise, but you cannot be wise without knowledge. The Word-driven life is wisdom, and it is the alternative to being driven by feelings. A healthy spiritual diet is to learn the Word, live the Word, and love the Word. Without obedience to His Word, there is no love for God in the heart no matter how much we raise our hands and sing about His love and holiness in our own style of music (cf. Jn 14:15). If living in disobedience, any spiritual adrenaline or buzz is empty and useless.
If we don’t begin to think about what we are taking spiritually into our hearts by using the Word of God as our guide, our feelings will inevitably get us into trouble. The time is now to think before you eat, physically and spiritually from here on out! <><
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