The human inner experience (or feelings) has come to define our modern world. What do I mean by that? I mean this: an individual’s inner feelings determines who they are and what their life’s purpose is. We determine truth by how we feel about something. Our identity is defined by our expression of our inner experience. We champion someone’s inner experience even when it contradicts an objective reality. In our culture, inner experience and expressed feelings can even create reality (instead of being informed by it).

Before you think this is just something on the cultural fringes, consider how often you begin a statement of truth with the words: “I feel that…” How often do we use our feelings as an irrefutable argument? Consider how enticing the cultural imperative to “do what feels right” is in your life. Do what makes you feel happy; that’s all that matters. Feelings are a reflection of our inner experience, and we are obsessed with them. We live by how we feel. All of us.

The church is not immune to this preeminence of the inner experience. Often, we choose churches because of how the worship or fellowship make us feel. We often come to church seeking a solution to our unsatisfactory subjective experience. It’s no wonder that so many churches have adopted an entertainment-driven and therapeutic emphasis. We all just want to feel better. Within this framework the consequences of our sin are reduced to a damaged subjective inner experience instead of rebellion against an external and transcendent God. Our problem becomes subjective instead of objective, and we come to seek a therapeutic fix.

You might be feeling it during the worship music, but what about when a gloomy Monday morning rolls around? What then? A Christianity built upon feelings leaves the Christian wavering between despair and over-confidence. With the roller-coaster of human experience, so goes Christian confidence and assurance. If you’re like me, then so often you just don’t feel God’s presence. A faith tethered to feelings is only as strong as those feelings are.

Even more concerning, a therapeutic Christianity aimed at satisfying our inner experience undermines the gospel itself. If our felt needs are the primary problem, then we are left with a gospel that honestly doesn’t always resolve those inner felt needs. Thus, with this as our paradigm we are left searching for another savior, always seeking a therapy to fix our broken inner experience. Jesus becomes one of many wellness tools that we employ in the pursuit of an inner tranquility that will last. Our faith comes to trust in whatever makes us feel best, and ultimately becomes dependent on our ability to fix ourselves.
But is Christianity’s main aim to help you feel better? The good news is no it is not! Praise God that Christianity is objective before it ever addresses the subjective experience. Our faith trusts in a savior who accomplished something in objective history. This good news is unchanging and complete, regardless of how you might feel on any given day. You are free from the endless cycle of your own feelings!

This savior was actually raised from the dead within space and time. Having experienced the full gamut of human experiences and therefore knowing your deepest inner turmoil, He now reigns sovereignly over it, all the while graciously turning and using it for an ultimate good.

Next time you’re having that day-to-end-all-days or the next time you just aren’t feeling God, don’t loo within yourself; look outside yourself to the objectivity of Christ, that beautiful sure-and-steadfast anchor for your soul. When your experience is leaving you questioning and doubting, know that He is sustaining and upholding your faith. The next time you aren’t feeling it at the communion table, consider that just as surely as you hold the bread and wine in your hand, so surely and truly Christ nourishes and refreshes your soul for eternal life with His crucified body and poured-out blood (Heidelberg Q 75).

None of this is to say that feelings or an inner experience aren’t important. This is isn’t to downplay the reality of our inner brokenness or diminish the beauty of a genuine feeling of God’s nearness. But, your relationship with God does not hinge on your subjective experience. God’s goodness toward you hinges on the completed work of our Savior, which cannot be undone. It is independent of your subjectivism. No matter how you feel, God will never leave you nor forsake you.

~ Luke Yeager