Stop Feeling Your Way Through Life
Genesis 27:23
"And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands: so he blessed him."
Isaac made a tragic mistake that many people make everyday and that was that he trusted his feelings instead of his common sense and principles. Isaac sent Esau to kill a deer so they could have venison to eat as he planned to give him the family blessing over the meal. Rachel, loving Jacob more than Esau, conceived a plan that Jacob could deceive his father and get the blessing for himself. When Jacob came to Isaac his father for the blessing, Isaac could not believe that he found the deer so fast. So, he asked him to come so that he could feel him, for Esau was a hairy man and Jacob was not. When Isaac felt Jacob, the verse above says, "...he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands:..." Isaac gave the blessing to Jacob all because he felt like Esau.
Christian, feelings will get you into trouble. There are too many people who live their life based upon feelings only to see heartache follow. You cannot trust your feelings for they are based upon the emotion of the moment and not upon principles of the Word of God. There are three areas in life where you should not live by feelings.
First, don't make decisions based upon feelings. Many people get themselves into trouble because they base decisions upon feelings. Young people lose their purity because they base a decision upon feelings. People marry someone only to regret it later in life because they base their relationship upon feelings. People join the wrong church because of feelings. Simply put, don't let your feelings make a decision, but make your decisions based upon biblical principles that you have previously set up.
Second, don't spend money based upon feelings. There are many people trying to dig their way out of debt because they bought on feelings. Just because you feel like you should buy something doesn't mean you should purchase it. Money should be spent because it is in your budget to do so. You can purchase things based upon feelings by putting them in on your credit cards, but the credit card bill will eventually come due. Stop spending on feelings and only spend money on things that are in your budget.
Last, don't follow God by feeling. I often hear the statement, "I feel the LORD would have me..." When someone says this they are basing their decision to follow the LORD upon feelings. You will often hear people say, "I feel the LORD is leading me to..." Let me ask you, if you are basing something upon how you feel, what are you going to do when the feeling is gone? There will be many times when there are no feelings, but you still must serve God. When the feelings leave, you better have something more than just a feeling that you based your decision upon. You should not follow the LORD based upon feelings, but you should follow Him because the Word of God tells you to do so.
Christian, be careful about feeling your way through life. You would be better off living your life following the principles of the Word of God. Feelings are based upon so many other factors that are not concrete. You could have good feelings about something because you feel good that day or because you are having a good day; however, when you are having a bad day or are not feeling as well you will find that your feelings won't lead you to do anything but quit. Let God's Word and biblical principles guide you, and you will find that you won't get yourself in the quandary of trying to fix unwanted problems that your feelings led you into.