What feelings has to do with it . . .

Personally, I would not give you a plug nickel for a religion that was all head and no heart. Philosophy and science have their place, but if forced to choose I would rather have the “joy unspeakable” (1 Peter 1:8) that Peter talks about, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that I may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19) of which Paul writes.

Theology to have any meaningful value must speak to the heart, or it doesn’t really speak at all. What lasting good can any belief have unless it draws us actively into the circle of God’s everlasting love and purposes for us? There is none. The Scripture puts it this way:

“[T]he letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:4-6).”

St. Thomas a’ Kempis once remarked, “I would rather feel regret than to be able to define it.” He also writes in another place: “What if you knew the whole Bible outwardly, and the sayings of all the philosophers, what would it all profit you without charity and the grace of God?” In both of these choice statements he is reminding us that Godliness affects the heart—the emotions of man, rather than just the head.

I remind us of this because we sometimes get so tied up in witnessing or educating others that we forget that knowing God, really knowing Him, is more than what we see printed in black and white on the pages of a book, even if that book is the Bible. God wants to get beyond that:

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires (Hebrews 4:12).”

Thus, we can say that it is one thing to see the light; yet, quite another to walk in it

[For] if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:7).”

And, my friend, when Jesus purifies us from sin, we are at peace with God, ourselves and our neighbors.

 Keep looking up, for our redemption is near,

 JimR_/