“Feel- good Christianity — a faith in which we only follow the Lord, obey His commands, and read His Word when we feel like it.”- Ron Luce
In Chapter 1 (“Feel- Good Faith”) of Resilience: Bounce Back Stronger- No Matter What Knocks You Down, Ron Luce states that, in order to build the type of resilience allowing us to bounce back by God’s grace, we must understand our cultural reality. That reality- we live in a feel- good world.
As a result, Mr. Luce observes, feelings drive our culture. Furthermore, our culture manages to convince us our emotions characterize the real us. Consequently, Ron explains God’s design for our emotions:
” . . . in a world in which emotions were meant to enhance our lives, we have allowed them to dominate our lives (emphasis author’s). God gave us emotions so our lives would be richer and fuller. But we have allowed emotions to make us their slaves.”
Therefore, in our ‘feel like it’ culture, Ron asserts, Christianity becomes the biggest casualty. Although we’d never verbally admit that we only follow Christ when we feel like it, we need to avoid succumbing to a faith that only engages when the mood strikes us.
Ultimately, Mr. Luce emphasizes, we must choose to trust God, even when circumstances violate our feelings and natural inclinations.
In conclusion, the author states:
“But understanding that you are not your feelings is the beginning of freedom from slavery to them. Just because you feel something does not mean you have to engage that emotion. . . . Christ didn’t die so we could have feel- good faith. He died so our faith could be resilient.”
Today’s question: What Bible verses keep you from straying toward feel- good Christianity? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: The “Theology of Complacency”
