Faith and Feelings

With the beginning of Holy Week just a few days away, as always, I am looking forward to Easter, which is my favorite holiday in terms of its significance. In past years, I have thought about what it was like for Jesus’ followers, especially starting when Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane. I imagine the confusion and especially the fear that they must have felt. In fact, two of the Gospels make their fear very explicit. The last sentence in Matthew 26:56 says, “Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.” Mark 14:50 repeats this, almost word for word. A short time later, Peter denies Jesus three times out of that same fear, just as Jesus had prophesied he would. Moving on to Good Friday, I imagine the mixture of emotions Jesus’ followers must have felt as Jesus hung on the cross: among other things, horror, confusion, fear, and grief, which surely continued through the Sabbath. And then on Easter morning, I imagine the fear and initial confusion of the women in Luke 24 when they go into the tomb and discover that Jesus’ body is not there. Verses 4-6 tell us, “While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is risen!'” The women tell the disciples what happened, but verse 11 says: “But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.” Peter and John then run to the tomb, and John 20:8-9 says, “Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)” Jesus then appears to Mary Magdalene, and that evening He appears to all of the disciples except Thomas. By the end of the day, the fear and confusion that Jesus’ followers had previously felt have transformed into what must have been an increasing understanding and inexpressible joy!

I am not the most expressive person when it comes to emotions but not the least, either. And on Easter morning, when I am celebrating Jesus’ resurrection with my brothers and sisters, I experience a joy that carries me through the day and well beyond. One of the primary reasons for this joy is the evidence for the resurrection; my faith does not depend on my feelings at any given moment, but on the objective evidence for it. I wrote about this evidence three years ago; you can click here if you’re interested: https://keithpetersenblog.com/2021/03/24/evidence-for-the-resurrection/ There seems to be a growing tendency among younger believers in the U.S. to desire emotional “experiences” that will make them feel close to the Lord. Last week, I read an excellent post by seekingdivineperspective, a sister in Christ and fellow blogger, about both the importance and limitations of feelings when it comes to our faith; she rightly says that the emotional highs are wonderful, but that Satan can use even those highs, as well as the lows, to lead us astray if we’re not careful. Click here to read her post: https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/77411698/posts/5155771865

Maybe an analogy will help to illustrate this. When I fell in love with the beautiful, godly woman who was to become my wife, I experienced an amazing emotional high. I wanted to be with her as much as possible, and when we were apart, I thought about her almost constantly. And after we got married, the high continued! Over time, of course, we both found that our feelings fluctuated, but what didn’t change was our commitment to each other. Years later, we also came across a fascinating chart about marital satisfaction, showing how it fluctuates over the life of a marriage. The bottom line is that we shouldn’t expect to always experience the incredible high of “being in love.” In fact, when married couples do expect that high but don’t experience it, they sometimes question whether they’re “in love” anymore; divorce is often a result.

In a similar vein, I don’t expect to experience a spiritual high every day. Perhaps you remember what happened at Asbury University in February of last year; some called it a revival; others called it an outpouring; still others were skeptical. Regardless of what you want to call it, one thing we can say is that it was a spiritual high for many of the people who experienced it. I decided to research what has “happened” a year later. Not surprisingly, there was a special anniversary chapel service last month that celebrated what happened last year. Zach Meerkreebs, pastor-in-residence at Asbury University, spoke in the chapel on the first day of the outpouring last year, and he spoke again at the special service last month. Here are a few sentences from an article in The Asbury Collegian: “The anniversary chapel was a celebration. It was also an acknowledgment of the events and the different responses to them. In a benediction to the students after the anniversary service, Meerkreebs left Asbury with a prayer and a challenge: ‘Fall back in love with the ordinary.’ It was not an attention-grabbing message or a revved-up cry for the Spirit’s return. Each statement on Hughes’s stage echoed the idea that spirit was still present, even after crowds dispersed. It was a challenge to bring our memory of the extraordinary into the ordinary parts of our lives.”

Now there is wisdom! “Fall back in love with the ordinary.” If I had been there, I would have stood and applauded. Notice also again these words from the writer of the article, Kaitlyn McCracken: “It was not… a revved-up cry for the Spirit’s return.” And finally, again: “It was a challenge to bring our memory of the extraordinary into the ordinary parts of our lives.” Amen and amen! I can’t deny that I experienced a little extra thrill because in my post a year ago about what happened at Asbury, I also urged us to focus on experiencing the Lord and obeying Him in the “ordinary.” I quoted three writers, including Julie Canlis, who wrote about “a theology that values slow growth over dramatic change and the ‘ordinary’ as essential to our spiritual maturity.” You can read the rest of it here: https://keithpetersenblog.com/2023/02/23/spiritual-highs-and-the-ordinary-life/

Our feelings are important, certainly including our spiritually-related ones. However, I don’t believe we should expect to experience spiritual highs on a daily basis; if we do, we will be disappointed, and we may be tempted to wonder if our faith is real. For myself, I love experiencing spiritual highs as much as the next person. I can also say, however, that knowing objective facts and getting my questions answered over the decades have strengthened my faith immeasurably.

May you have the most blessed Easter weekend ever!