Have you ever had lies told about you? Maybe a “friend” told those lies. Someone you trusted who mixed feelings with facts and lies with the truth. You may feel like you don’t know who or what to trust. Or what the truth really is. When someone lies about you, based on their own feelings or their own version of the truth, whether others see it as facts comes down to this: Who is most trustworthy? But what actually makes something or someone reliable? 🤔
What about when you tell lies to yourself? If you’ve ever suffered from depression, you know how your feelings can seem like facts. You may truly believe you have nothing to offer or that no one loves you. You may even feel like it wouldn’t matter if you kept living or not. Those lies will crowd the truth of who you are in Christ. Or maybe the lies you tell yourself are insidious thoughts like: “Why do I even try? I always mess up!” Or, “I can’t do anything right.” Or “I am messing up my kids.” Can you trust your own thoughts and feelings as being facts? What if they are lies and not the truth?
DON’T MISS THIS: Just because you are feeling a certain way, does not make it true. What may feel like “your truth” may very well be the enemy of your soul telling lies to you. It’s difficult to lead your children when facts are dictated by feelings and lies seem to be the truth. Jared C. Wilson says that facts may not care about your feelings, but Jesus does.
Jesus cares about your feelings
If you are a Christ-Follower, you know that Satan entered the garden and took his own spin on the facts by appealing to Eve’s feelings. Why? Because feelings are powerful! He deflected from the truth of God’s goodness and the world became corrupted with lies.
To experience feelings is to be human. Jesus Himself felt joy, exhaustion, sorrow, anger, disgust, compassion, frustration, and forgiveness. He KNOWS how you feel. There’s nothing you feel that He cannot understand. Feelings feel VERY real when you experience them. Some are GOOD to encourage, but some are DEADLY.
This world is already accepting, embracing, and celebrating feelings as if they were absolute truth. This is not fact. In fact, it is a total lie. There is danger in seeing feelings as facts:
- “If I FEEL this way, it must be TRUTH.”
- Would people who are unvaccinated get to enjoy the same benefits if they feel like they have been vaccinated?
- What about teachers who feel like it’s OK to have intimate relationships with their students. Why is that wrong if they and the students agree to it?
- How about when people who are under 5′ tall feel like they are over 6′? Does that make it true?
- If a biological female feels like she is male, how can that make it FACT?
- Who cares if a depressed person kills themself? If they feel like they should die, why is that your business?
- When women feel like they need abortions, their choice is celebrated. But what about the murder of their unborn children? No one seems to care about their feelings.
In the examples above, please recognize that these people may legitimately feel this way. And as a Christ-Follower, you can have compassion for them. It is important to acknowledge EVERY feeling (Jesus did!). But that does not mean every feeling needs to be acted upon. First ask, “OK, this is how I feel so, in light of God’s Word, what do I want to DO with this?”
Jesus cares about the facts
In 2014, a married 29-year-old woman diagnosed with brain cancer made global headlines. Her name was Brittany Maynard. She decided to use physician-assisted suicide to die on her own terms. This was her truth. She called it “dying with dignity.” But, is our life really ours alone? Can you see the treacherous lies at play here?
Every human being is created in God’s image. And the fact is, you are not your own. Your loving Creator knew that in this world you would have trouble, and told you to rest in Jesus for He has overcome it all (John 16:33). You are not your own, and you are not alone.
In 2015, a woman named Rachel Dolezal was the president of the NAACP in Spokane, Washington. She is of European ancestry but identifies as black. After her deception was discovered, Dolezal’s life unraveled as she was met with tremendous criticism from both sides.
However, in that same year, Bruce Jenner transitioned into Caitlyn Jenner and was highly acclaimed for bravely living his/her “truth.” Wait a minute, what? You can’t change your race, but you CAN change your gender? Is truth simply relative here?
The Bible in its entirety is absolutely true and trustworthy. You could pick and choose verses, asking, “How can this or that be true?” Or the converse, “Because the verse says this, then that is true.” But if you don’t know or bother to look at the greater context, you’d be making a huge mistake. The Bible is very clear throughout that God created man and women as distinct and separate entities. Absolutely equal and entirely different. Additionally, all people from every tribe, tongue, and nation matter to God and can be saved.
Jesus cares about the truth
In The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth Jared C. Wilson exposes some of Satan’s most compelling lies. He says that some of these lies have been repeated so often they seem to be common sense. Wilson explains why they’re appealing to us, the harm they cause, and ways to counteract each.
- Please check out this book for a deeper dive. But here are the eight LIES Wilson addresses:
- God just wants you to be happy
- You only live once
- You need to live your truth
- Your feelings are reality
- You need to let go and let God
- The cross is not about wrath
- God helps those who help themselves
When you read this book, you get a more complete picture of just how deceptive Satan is. How he cloaks deadly lies with words that appeal to your feelings. Like “Live your Truth.” “You Do You.”
Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Take to Him your doubts and questions. He can hold them. Call out to Him about the lies you hear. Ask Him to show you the truth. You can trust Him with your feelings. Draw closer to Him and He will draw closer to you. He cares for you more than you know.
Kate Fraiser is a Parent Coach with Connect Point Moms helping you create stronger relational connections with the children in your life. This starts with being aware of your own stuff so you can BE PRESENT with your children in the moment you’re in, and then knowing and using the best ways to communicate with them. For quick and helpful parenting videos, find her on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, or Facebook.