Why Your Feelings Are Lying to You
Truth doesn’t care about emotional consensus.
The Therapeutic Gospel Delusion
Modern Christianity has replaced Scripture with “feelings” as its final authority.
We’ve replaced “Thus says the Lord” with “I feel led.”
We’ve traded theological precision with “I think it means this.”
We’ve exchanged biblical exposition for emotional manipulation.
Here’s what your feelings-focused faith won’t tell you:
Your emotions are the least reliable guide to truth that you possess.
Scripture’s Brutal Assessment
Jeremiah 17:9 should demolish our self-trust: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
Not some things, not many things, or even most things. All things!
Your heart isn’t just occasionally misleading; it’s consistently corrupt. The Hebrew word for “deceitful” here implies active treachery. Your emotions aren’t just neutral; they unfailingly conspire against you.
Proverbs 28:26 delivers the verdict: “Whoever trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.”
Scripture doesn’t suggest emotional guidance is merely unwise. It calls it foolish.
Yet Sunday after Sunday, pulpits across America peddle emotional validation as spiritual maturity.
How We Got Here
The Psychological Captivity
American Christianity underwent a hostile takeover in the 20th century.
Psychology replaced theology.
Self-esteem replaced repentance.
Felt needs replaced biblical truth.
John MacArthur warns in “Our Sufficiency in Christ” that the church has become “a religious echo of secular psychotherapy.” We’ve baptized Freud and called it discipleship.
The result? A generation of Christians who determine truth by temperature checks on their feelings.
The Worship Wars Symptom
Why do churches split over music styles? Could it be because we’ve elevated emotional experience over doctrinal substance?
If the music doesn’t make you feel something, you conclude God didn’t show up. As if the Holy Spirit’s presence depends on your goosebumps.
R.C. Sproul noted in his “The Holiness of God” that we’ve confused emotional intensity with spiritual encounter. We mistake adrenaline for anointing.
The Decision-Making Disaster
“I have peace about it” has become the Christian Magic 8-Ball.
Countless believers make life-altering decisions based on emotional impressions rather than biblical principles.
They abandon churches because they “don’t feel fed.”
They divorce spouses because they “don’t feel in love.”
They reject biblical truth because it “doesn’t feel right.”
Paul Washer declares in his sermon “The True Gospel” that this feelings-based Christianity produces false converts who “prayed a prayer” but never repented, who “felt something” but were never transformed.
The Biblical Alternative
Truth Over Temperature
Jesus didn’t say “Follow your heart.” He said “Follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).
Paul didn’t write “Let your feelings guide you.” He wrote “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16).
Truth isn’t determined by your emotional thermostat.
Truth is determined by God’s unchanging Word.
Character Over Circumstances
When Job lost everything, his feelings screamed that God had abandoned him. His wife’s emotions told him to “curse God and die” (Job 2:9).
Job’s response? “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him” (Job 13:15).
That’s not emotional intelligence; that’s theological defiance.
Job trusted God’s character over Job’s circumstances.
Theology Over Therapy
Modern Christianity asks, “How do you feel about God?”
Biblical Christianity asks, “What has God revealed about Himself?”
A.W. Pink writes in “The Attributes of God” that our emotional responses to God are irrelevant if they’re not grounded in accurate theology. You can’t love a God you don’t know, and you can’t know a God you’ve reimagined to match your feelings.
The Trust That Transcends
Here’s what emotional Christianity can’t produce: “unshakeable faith”.
When you base your faith on feelings, every emotional downturn becomes a spiritual crisis. When you anchor your faith in truth, storms reveal your foundational strength.
Trust God’s character, not your circumstances.
Trust God’s promises, not your perceptions.
Trust God’s Word, not your emotions.
Your feelings will lie about God’s goodness when cancer comes.
Your feelings will lie about God’s presence when loneliness strikes.
Your feelings will lie about God’s power when weakness overwhelms.
But God’s character remains unchanged. His promises remain unbroken. His Word remains unshaken.
The Question That Matters
Will you build your faith on the shifting sand of emotional experience or the solid rock of revealed truth?
Your feelings are neurochemical responses lasting mere moments.
God’s truth is an eternal reality transcending all circumstances.
Truth doesn’t care about your emotional consensus.
Neither should you!