Nancy Leigh DeMoss (now Wolgemuth), in her book Choosing Gratitude, explains that it is
her personal standard not to publish anything that she is not living herself.[1]
In other words, she takes the maxim “practice what you preach” very seriously,
and if she isn’t “practicing” something, she doesn’t want to “preach” it.
While this standard is admirable, it’s one I have not set
for myself with this blog, although I have struggled with that decision to some
extent. After all, “practice what you preach” is a highly valued idea, going
hand-in-hand with “walk the talk” and “actions speak louder than words.” Those
who don’t practice what they preach are often labeled “hypocrites,” and
hypocrites are high on the villainy totem pole these days.
Being a form of deception, hypocrisy certainly isn’t a good
thing, but it seems that we have an increasingly confused notion of what
actually constitutes the vice. I love Erik Thoennes’s explanation, as quoted by Brett
McCracken writing for The Gospel Coalition: “There's this idea that to live out
of conformity with how I feel is
hypocrisy; but that's a wrong definition of hypocrisy. To live out of
conformity to what I believe is
hypocrisy. To live in conformity with what I believe, in spite of what I feel,
isn't hypocrisy; it's integrity.”[2]
This is true because beliefs are stronger than feelings, and when feelings are
fickle, beliefs can still be bold. There are times when feelings will falter,
but in those times beliefs don’t have to fail.
I’m reminded of a message I heard one day during a college chapel about “convictional happiness.” The speaker, Nic Gibson, gave an
example similar to this one: Let’s say you sing in the choir at church, but one
week you’re struggling to abide in the joy of Christ. To stand up in front of
the congregation and sing about joy would be to proclaim something you are not
currently living. In doing so, you would be “inauthentic” or “hypocritical” by
society’s standards, but in reality, you are being truly authentic by exercising convictional happiness
because you are refusing to let your feelings dictate your actions or change
your convictions.[3]
There is something to be said for declaring what we know to
be true even when we don’t feel it to be real. While we certainly do not want intentionally
to deceive others by painting a picture of ourselves to be something that we
are not, we also do not want to forsake our beliefs simply because our feelings
are not falling in line or because we stumble and fall into sin.
Who among us unfailingly lives to the standard we know we
are called to in Christ or lives out what we know to be true without fail? No
one. Not even one. But does that give us cause to simply throw up our hands and
say, “I’m not feelin’ this today . . . oh well, I guess I don’t believe it after
all”? I would suggest it does not.
Take a look at what Habakkuk writes in Habakkuk 3:17-18
(ESV):
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor
fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and
the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the
God of my salvation.
The scene described here is a thoroughly dismal one. In an
agricultural society, crops and animals are what the entire community’s
sustenance depends upon, and in the community Habakkuk describes, the fields
and vineyards are desolate, and the animals are nonexistent. I think it’s pretty
safe to say he would not have been dancing around with laughter and smiles. Yet
he decides to rejoice and “take joy” in God.
Similarly, when we are faced with disappointing,
distressing, or desperate situations, whether they be a result of God’s
judgment, circumstances beyond our control, or any other reason only He knows,
we can choose to stand in the truth despite what our feelings tell us. (And by
“the truth,” I mean what is revealed to us in Scripture.) We can “take joy” even
when we can’t remember the last time we genuinely smiled.
As Mark Ballenger writes in his excellent post titled “Is It
Sin to Be Sad,” “To be able to grieve deeply and rejoice relentlessly at the
same time is a mark of Christian maturity.”[4] We don’t have to stop ourselves from
rejoicing or silence ourselves from speaking truth until our feelings agree
with us. On the contrary, when we are feeling down and discouraged is when we
most need to speak truth to ourselves.
Nor do we have to force ourselves to feel happier when we’re
sad. We can acknowledge our feelings while at the same time bringing them under
the oversight of Truth. We can lean on our faith even when it takes a long time
for our feelings to catch up.
That’s why I keep writing even when I don’t feel like it.
That’s why instead of reserving this blog solely for topics I have already
mastered, I opt instead to use it to expound both on lessons I have learned by
heart and lessons I am in the process
of learning.
Sometimes I write what my head knows because my heart needs
reminding.
I write what I believe in faith even if it’s not what I feel
at that given moment. If I did otherwise, this wouldn’t be much of a blog,
because let’s face it—I’m not perfect. But I know Someone who is, and, praise
Him, He’s making me to be like Himself.
So in the meantime, I’m still writing as I learn to “be
sorrowful because of the pain on this planet, while also always rejoicing
because of the perfections of our Savior.”[5]
I keep writing because I know that while my feelings rise and fall, my Savior
remains constant. I’m persevering in what I started because He perseveres in
completing His work in me (Philippians 1:16).
I hope you’ll do the same.
[1] DeMoss, Nancy Leigh. Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy. (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2009), 160.
[2] McCracken, Brett, “Has ‘Authenticity’ Trumped Holiness,” The Gospel Coalition, January 26, 2014, accessed June 10, 2017, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/has-authenticity-trumped-holiness-2.
[3] Gibson, Nic. Bryan College Engage Conference, Session 2: “The Identity of the Church,” January 15, 2014.
[4] Ballenger, Mark, “Is It Sin to Be Sad,” Desiring God, June 9, 2017, accessed June 10, 2017, http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/is-it-sin-to-be-sad.
[5] Ibid.
