Act Your Way Into A Feeling
By JoeBruin88. Filed in Life, Pourpa, Pourpa Letters and Spiritual |Tags: accountability, Bible Study, Christian, communion, faith, fellowship, Life, Pourpa, Pourpa_Letters, Prayer, sharing, Spiritual
Act your way into a feeling; don’t feel your way into an action.
Dear Pourpa,
I can’t tell you how many times I heard that at UCLA from my spiritual father and mentor, Dennis. I don’t think I liked hearing it too much and boy did he say it often. When we would walk towards an unsuspecting “engineer” on South Campus eating his lunch on a small patch of grass near the building that was then only called Young Hall before the whole grandiose “Court of Sciences” nomenclature, and before we engaged him in spiritual conversation, I shuddered in timidity. I can still hear Dennis saying, “Act your way into a feeling . . .” The eternal destination of a lost soul hung in the balance. When I expressed frustration with my parents, struggling to extend God’s grace and forgiveness, I heard it. And though I have not seen Dennis in almost 10 years, I have still heard that saying in the last few months, speaking God’s truth to me concerning my attitude and actions:
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.
Jesus, John 14:21
Almost five days ago I believe you and I had a pivotal conversation. It is not a coincidence that the prayers being offered up on your behalf led us to that point in time. Providence is the only word that can describe it. As powerful as Providence is, God created us with free will, so we can choose how we respond. No matter the situation, whenever we are confronted with the claims and truths of God, he demands a response, either obedience to his call and purpose or disobedience.
Ignoring these claims and truths is also a response, one of passive indifference, which is ultimately disobedience. I believe that you’ve reached this point of response based on what we talked about last Monday. Christ is calling.
As I been thinking and praying about this, I asked the Lord to bring to my mind something pertinent from his Word. This morning as I was driving to work, he brought to my memory the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-9). Please take the time to read it before going on with the rest of this letter.
I think this parable is significant because there are times in life when God is speaking to our hearts, when the Holy Spirit whispers into our ears in such a way that we are attuned to spiritual truths. Initially, we get caught up in the excitement of hearing God’s voice. Our hearts are on fire. Prayerfully, in most of these cases, we are compelled to act on whatever God is calling us to do. Sometimes, however, I think we pause– ever so slightly– to mull things over and think things through. Certainly, I am not saying that we should rush into things. Of course, there will be times when we need to carefully consider options. But I would like to pose that there are those times when we must act quickly and decisively.
Read the explanation of the Parable of the Sower:
Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
Jesus, Matthew 13:18-23
Why am I bothering to go on with this long explanation? Well, when we talked last, I encouraged you to talk with your small group bible study leader, to let him know what God has been saying into your life and what we talked about. I suggested that you set up a time to talk to him after your class, maybe eat lunch together or something. I pray that at the time of this writing that you’ve already done that and even met with him.
But I worry that you’ll wait too long and become complacent. Like the seed of truth that fell among the thorns, you’ll get caught up in “good” things, but not be concerned about the “best” things. Maybe you have a hard time sharing these things with him. I can understand that. But the Christian life was not meant to be lived in isolation with God. It was meant to be experienced in communion with others. This is clear throughout Scripture.
Jesus communed with his Father and with the twelve disciples. Paul had Epaphroditus, Barnabus, and Timothy. Mom and I have each other, our small group, and the church.
I can think of two powerful verses to illustrate my point that one of the most obvious outward expressions of faith is to confess or to agree, which is a verbal response. Take for example, Romans 10:8-10:
But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,”that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
The heart believes, but the mouth speaks that belief.
Although the context of James 5:16 is not exactly applicable to this situation, I believe the principle of sharing with others is clearly illustrated:
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Okay, so now that I’ve taken almost an entire novel to state that, what are the benefits of sharing?
- Helps bind the truth of God into your heart. When others of like mind and spirit affirm and encourage you in the right actions of obedience, you will experience the joy of sharing the love for God with other believers.
- Provides the beginning of accountability. We all need accountability. Because of our sinful nature, only with God’s power and the encouragement he provides through the Holy Spirit and through other believers can we remain faithful.
- Draws you into the lives of others, bringing you closer with other believers and God.
So I pray this letter finds you still in good spirit, still strong with the conviction of which we spoke on Monday night.
Take action, my son. Don’t delay. Don’t wait for the right timing or the right feelings. Act on what is good and right.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18
Hebrews 11:1 says: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
It can be loosely translated as:
Act your way into a feeling; don’t feel your way into an action.
Love,
Dad