The Compass

You’re directionally challenged.  When you feel strongly about something, you imagine that you have a strong conviction and follow it; but when the feeling changes, so does your “conviction.” The path you’ve been walking is a zigzag.

Thanks to 360Texas.com!

Strong feelings are NOT the same thing as convictions (although they do overlap from time to time).  A feeling is merely a sensation, and it will pass.  It may be triggered or random, helpful or hurtful, personally informative or totally disorienting.  Unpredictable.  It can provide you with a reference point along the way, but it cannot chart your direction for you.  A conviction, on the other hand, is a wise, unshakable, guiding principle that you should refuse to let go of; a compass that will point in the right direction when you find yourself getting disoriented.  Feelings should be analyzed.  Convictions must be exercised.

You will feel your convictions when you first embrace them, and when something causes them to deepen, but normally, you will NOT feel them in those moments when they are the most needed (when they’re actually being put to the test).  Just the opposite: your feelings will be contradicting your convictions in those moments, urging you to compromise them.  That’s temptation in a nutshell, isn’t it?

In those moments when your convictions feel like nothing more than an impediment, embrace them again, confident that their underlying principles are as strong as ever.  This compass will  lead you safely through the fog of feelings, and make you stronger in the process.  If you choose to follow your feelings instead... you can also expect to feel confusion, powerlessness, shame and regret in due time. 

RULE OF THUMB:
“Now faith is... the conviction of things unseen” [& unfelt!]  Hebrews 11:1

Final note: sometimes our convictions must be readjusted, it’s true, but it is a gradual maturing of thought that takes place over time - not a wrestling match prompted by contradictory feelings.

Greener Grass

Thanks to MediaTunes @ Flick'r for this pic!

Some days, you experience the other side.  For a few precious hours, you find yourself rolling in one of the many meadows of God’s grace and goodness.  It’s Awesome!  Clouds lift from your understanding, your soul finds its strength, and your heart tastes sweet Joy.  Anxiety and Guilt dissipate in the cool breeze of the Spirit - which is whispering: “This is what’s waiting for you, if you’ll just overcome.”

Other days, you’re in the tall, thick weeds.  Visibility is minimal, the thistles are stinging, temptation is calling, and you’re wondering: Was the other side a complete lie, or just a temporary high?
 
If overcoming seems like a beautiful dream, but sin struggles are more the reality of your life, it simply means this:  you’re sitting on the fence between the two.  You’ve swung one leg over to get a better view of God’s property, but the other leg’s still dangling in the tall weeds of sin, not completely ready to leave them behind.

RULE OF THUMB:
"How long will you hesitate between two opinions?  If the LORD is God, follow Him..."  1 Kings 18:21

1) The longer you stay on the fence, the less likely it is that you’ll ever go beyond it.  Pride will suggest that seeing the other side is more than a lot of people will ever do.  Fear will suggest that the power of temptation is just too strong, when the problem is really that your stance is just too weak.  And eventually, “common sense” will tell you to give up, get off, and go home.  Cross over instead.

2) The further away from the fence you get, the harder it is to see what’s on the other side.  The bad news is this: those deep in sin can’t even make out the green grass in the distance.  But here's the good news: those deep in overcoming are hardly bothered by what they left behind.  The further we go, the harder it gets for our old temptations and condemnations to reach us, until they eventually fade out of view!

For overcomers, the myth of greener grass is not really a myth at all. You can live at a higher level in Christ.  Get off the fence!