The Living Word, 22 March 2020

Facts! Faith! Feelings!

These days we are being bombarded with a lot of information about COVID-19. Some of it is helpful in keeping us aware of the implications of contracting the virus and the restrictions and protocols now in place for our protection. It is good to be well informed and act appropriately. But some of the information is unhelpful in that while it may be accurate, rather than leading to sensible caution, can possibly lead to fear and panic.

This is demonstrated in the mass hysteria over toilet paper supplies. Somehow people have forgotten what is essential to survive, I would have thought nutritious food would be a better commodity to stock up on. But the underlying problem of hording shows how selfish are we human beings. During the bushfires in Australia and floods in Indonesia we witnessed many acts of kindness and cooperation as people helped each other, even gave their lives in order to save others. In just a few weeks we witness the opposite.

Fear. It’s a good thing in the presence of danger. It helps us to identify potential threats and to act appropriately. But if we give in to fear and not control it, we can find ourselves unable to think rationally and often paralysed by it. That’s because it is a feeling, an emotion. God gave us emotions to help us express ourselves and have a safety valve, as long as it is appropriate in our context. But when we allow emotions, feelings to dominate our life, we lose control, fear is in the driver’s seat.

God also gave us faith so we can trust his control of our lives. It is not blind faith in the sense that it has no basis for belief, and it is not a case of “seeing is believing”. Somewhere in between there is a faith that is based on some knowledge and understanding of God’s goodness and love. There may be a small seed of faith to begin with but when we hear the facts of the message of the Gospel, faith rises, and we come to believe in Jesus. Without the facts it is hard to have a strong confidence and trust in God. Sometimes God does increase our faith through experiences when we see God’s power at work. Answers to prayer cause our faith to increase, but ultimately our faith is based on facts.

Feelings take a back seat. Not completely absent because God loves us in a way we could never express, and he wants us to love him in return. So, a faith that expresses itself in wooden, mechanical, coerced religious activities and is devoid of any feeling, at least of gratitude to God, is not true faith at all. It is more about obligation and bondage to a system rather than a personal, living faith in a loving, caring God. How can we sing “Oh, how I love Jesus” and not really mean it? Our behaviour is the proof of such love.

So, when we hear bad news our response as children of God is not to run in fear but to stand firm on our faith. We know with confidence that God has protected and provided for us in the past and there is no reason for him to change his mind now. “The LORD of hosts is with us…Be still and know that I am God”. (Psalm 46)

In Christ,

Alan Wood