A few weeks ago, we talked about having a life of faith or a life of feeling. We saw Jesus heal a Royal Official’s son in Cana in Galilee (John 4).

The Official came to Jesus and asked Him to heal his son. Jesus said, “Go home, your son is healed.” The Bible records that, “The official took Jesus at His word, turned, and went home.” The Official lived by faith – there was no longer a debate as to whether or not Jesus was speaking truth. The Official ended any debate in his mind and believed. His son was healed and his whole household started to follow Jesus. They all exercised faith – the debate ended. Jesus was who He said He was and His words were truth and worthy of being followed.

We looked at that and determined that if we based our life on faith in Jesus, we would then put it into action that would turn into intuitive behavior. As we habitually act on our faith, we look like and know the Truth and we live the hope of Jesus. A life of faith results in experiencing perpetual life now.

Conversely, if we based our life on feelings as the Official seemed to do as he urgently approached Jesus, we end up in a very different place. A foundation of feelings gives way to an obsession about our appearance. We want to feel secure so we start dumping all our energy into looking secure. If others think I am secure then I can think that too. The focus on appearance leads to a growing impatience because our feelings are never settled. We crave feeling content so we look anywhere we can to find comfort and take as many short-cuts as we can to get there. The result is a life of torture. We are tortured because we never “feel” good and we torture everyone around us because it must be their fault – we maintain the appearance of feeling secure. The end result is a spiritual, relational, emotional, and mental hunger that cannot be satisfied (Levels">see graphic).We starve.  

OK – all that as a lead up to the question that was texted in – “If you are already at the point of hunger, how do you go back to the way you should be living by faith?” Great question!

Let’s go back to the Royal Official. He had come to the end of his solutions. He would have been wealthy and powerful, yet he was unable to escape his feelings of uselessness at the fact that he could not save his son. He humbled himself and went to find Jesus. He admitted the way he was trying to find a solution did not and would not work. He found Jesus, listened, and changed his life.

It is a decision to change our minds – to start thinking faith first. One must decide to come to Jesus and seek His words and love. Like the Official, we need to come and admit that we can’t do it ourselves and we need Jesus. We then believe His words when He says we are forgiven and eternally loved. Once we hear Jesus say, “You are healed” we can take Him at his word.  The best starts include a community of people who are already on this path. Being part of a small group of Jesus followers gives us others to grow with. We also build our “faith muscles” by serving and in serving, we see the habits of following Jesus emerge.

The simple answer to your question – “How do I go from a life based on feeling to a life based on faith?” is to realize you can’t solve this, go to Jesus, hear His words of love and forgiveness, take Him at His word and end the debate. You are loved by the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe and He calls you His child.