Leaning on What Is Right, Despite What Feels Right

“There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 16:25, AMP)

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” (Galatians 5:16-18, ESV)

Emotions are tricky. On one hand, God has given them as a great help to us. They ignite our passion for the Lord and move us to give our lives to Him. They embolden us to share the Gospel that has changed us so completely. They contribute to convictions of the Holy Spirit in killing our sin and sanctifying ourselves to be more like Christ. When they are controlled and wielded righteously, they are a great help to navigating our Christian walk.

On the other hand, emotions are misleading and they are not irrefutable. They are still a part of the flesh-response in our fallen nature. They can lead us to sin, offend God, hurt others, and provide excuses for us to remain comfortable in our temptations and trespasses.

To establish our entire Christian walk on the barometer of how we feel is a grave mistake. To base all of our decisions on how it makes us feel or the way it seems is not in line with Godly wisdom. 

An internet preacher may post videos about scripture that seem inspiring, encouraging, and motivating, and yet his whole theology is antithetical to Truth. A local church may seem inviting, trendy, and loving, yet the sermon preached from the pulpit every week is geared towards getting people in the seats, not making disciples. 

All that to say: if our faith is left entirely in the hands of emotion and the way things seem, we may be leading ourselves directly into the way of death. Proverbs leaves no room for error in our key verse: just because something seems right or appears straight and righteous doesn’t mean it is. 

Following Christ means following the Truth in His Word. And yes, Jesus is love– pure, deep, and mind-boggling– but Jesus does not allow for sin in His presence, even when it seems insignificant to us. Without the full counsel of God– without submitting our emotions and our decisions to Him– we can very well go down a path of destruction, even as church-going Christians.

Galatians reveals a little more of the puzzle. Instead of our emotions, we should walk by the Spirit. The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit; therefore, if we allow the Spirit’s desires to be ours, then the choices we make will be according to the Lord, not our flesh. Verse 17 even says that sinful nature and the Spirit are directly opposed, so to follow the Spirit means you will not walk in a way that opposes God, even if that way seems good or harmless. 

The hard truth is that when left to our own devices, even our good decisions lead to death. Without God’s Spirit, even our good choices amount to nothing. Even the ways that seem sure lead us to death. The entire basis of Christian living is that we are not led by ourselves– our emotions, our intelligence, our savviness– but that we are led by God. 

And yes, our emotions can do a great many things that glorify God, but if they are not submitted to Him and ruled by His Spirit, they can also do great harm.

So we need to make sure that every decision we make and every path we walk down has been held up against God’s Word. If we don’t know it for ourselves, study it, allow it to convict us, and have rock-solid, deeply-rooted, doctrinally-sound teachers that are walking us through it, we will surely walk down a road that leads to death. We are saved by grace, and that is a precious, wonderful thing, but our faith needs to be built on Truth. Going solely off of how we feel is not enough. 

God gives us His word. He gives us other Christians with different perspectives, ways of encouragement, and trusted teachers to lean on. We don’t make decisions in a vacuum, and we don’t have to be governed by emotions that aren’t a sure-fire test for how to live a Godly life. 

When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He didn’t rely on His feelings to thwart the devil. He didn’t listen to His hunger, irritation, or frustration. He didn’t tell the devil to go away based on what He felt, or what seemed like the right thing to say. When Jesus was tempted by the enemy itself, he dispelled those temptations with scripture. He shut down Satan with the Word of God– Truth itself. 

We need to do the same. When we’re at a crossroads, we need to first consult the Word and see what God says there. Then, we should seek out trusted Christians who fear the Lord and are wise. Not just one, either. We should seek out multiple to get many different perspectives on what we face. And we should pray. We should give our worries to God over which road He wants us to travel down. We should ask Him to temper our emotions and to make His will clear. Give us wisdom to walk the path of righteousness, even if it doesn’t seem comfortable, clear, or straight. 

Sometimes, walking the right way will confront sins within us we were blind to before, and that won’t always feel great. But to walk it is allowing God to refine our hearts despite our short-sightedness. It leads to life and more of the Spirit.