Faith and Feeling

QUESTION: I am a Christian, but I do not feel as strong love for Christ as I know I should. What can I do about this?

The fact that you mourn your lack of love is all in your favor. No one is likely to deplore the coldness of his heart unless there is some warmth there already. It takes love to desire love. There has scarcely been a Christian, however devout, who has not grieved because he loved Christ so little. This appears to be the one mark of saintliness that is almost universal. Further, you must remember that your love for God is not primarily an emotion, but an act of the will. True Christian love is the love of willing, not the love of feeling, though it is likely to bring a great deal of joyous emotion along with it. Our Lord made the test of love to lie in obedience to His commandments (John 14:21-24). Feeling is a by-product of obedience. The order is: (1) believing, (2) willing, (3) obeying, (4) feeling.

QUESTION: My occupation is distasteful to me and God has not answered my prayer to have it changed. Can God be using it as a thorn in my flesh and refusing to hear my prayer for that reason?

This is extremely doubtful. Paul's thorn was not his occupation, but something far more personal than that. God may be delaying the answer to your prayer because He knows that your trouble does not lie in your occupation, but in yourself. It is a fallacy to believe that we are unhappy because of external circumstances, and that if we only get our circumstances straightened out we will become happy automatically. I once heard a great preacher say, You'll never be contented anywhere until you can be contented anywhere, and I agree with him fully. Peace of heart is a gift from God to the man who has met certain spiritual terms. It has nothing to do with occupation or living conditions. 'My peace I leave with you' was spoken to persons who were to know little else but trouble for the rest of their lives. God usually changes our circumstances by changing us internally. Allow Him to lift you above your present occupation and He may lead you into a better one.

QUESTION: I am in government service and deeply dislike my work. I feel that I am not accomplishing anything worthwhile. Is it right for me to pray to be led into a different kind of work?

It is always right to take our problems to God in prayer. He has promised to bring the blind by a way that they knew not (Isa. 42:16), and He assures us that if we keep Him in our thoughts our path will be directed (Prov. 3:5,6). We should not, however, allow ourselves to get wrought up about anything. It is the consensus among superior souls (as revealed in their books of devotion) that the Spirit leads without agitation, while the enemy, when he tries to imitate the Spirit, usually whips us up to a state of confusion and mental distress. The best rule is to pray, trust God fully and then follow His providences. Do not insist upon an earthquake or a whirlwind as the only evidences of divine guidance. God may lead you by a still small voice or by quietly arranging a set of circumstances so ordinary as to seem commonplace. Faith accepts quiet guidance; only unbelief demands a miracle.

QUESTION: I am a university student and my problem is this: If I study enough to pass my tests I have a feeling of guilt for having neglected my prayer life. If I pray enough to satisfy my heart I neglect my studies. What shall I do?

I think you are creating a problem where none exists. You have fallen into the common error of living a divided life, counting prayer as sacred and study as secular. God's will never contradicts itself; neither does He lay upon us duties that conflict with one another. Here is my advice: Consecrate your studies to God as a living sacrifice. Ask Him to accept your intellectual labors as an offering of love. To the spiritual man everything is sacred; nothing is secular. William Law says, 'Miranda does not divide her duty between God, her neighbor and herself; but she considers all as due to God, and so does everything . . for His sake.' Begin to think of your college work as intellectual worship acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. This will make the dullest subject enjoyable and, incidentally, it will sharpen your brain so you can grasp difficult ideas a lot more easily. The notion that prayer is to be made in retirement only is erroneous. That prayer which consists of an address to the Deity (which the Pharisees made on the street corner and which our Lord said should be made in the closet) is only one kind of prayer. A well-lived life is a prayer if it is lived in the faith of Christ. The hands may pray by doing honest work, the feet by carrying us to that work; sleep can be prayer when it refreshes us to serve our fellow men and eating may be prayer if it is done with thanksgiving. There is no reason to doubt that your college studies are an acceptable form of spiritual service. Of course, you should spend as much time as possible in prayerful retirement; only don't get under bondage to it. "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31).

by Aiden Walter Tozer