Conversion experiences are both powerful and dramatic. They can propel people from a depraved and desolate life of sin to a forgiven life of freedom, salvation, love, and grace. Unfortunately, many people who have had passionate conversions never live lives of freedom from sin and they never experience the joy and grace of a right relationship with the Lord.
Not to downplay the countless number of conversions that stick through to a life of obedience and faithfulness to Christ. However, many times the extraordinary emotional highs that accompany powerful conversion experiences become the very thing that causes people to regress from faith back into to the life they lived before their conversion.
When people's faith that was tied into their emotional state goes up and down like a roller coaster, they tend to question the Lord instead of drawing closer to Him. In reality, people who have emotional conversions will sputter out if that experience is not met with the disciplined faith that God requires. This is an immense tragedy that grieves the Holy Spirit and the body of Christ, which is the Church.
Although emotional conversion experiences may be powerful and can serve as the starting point for sincere Christian life, emotions alone are not a good and reliable litmus for faith. Emotions are not trustworthy. Our emotions can lie and conceal the real state of our hearts. If our faith is dependent on emotional highs for its realization, we will continually be let down by the volatile nature of emotions.
Faith needs to be grounded. If faith is not firmly established in the Holy Spirit guiding sound biblical doctrine, prayerful discipleship, and regular fellowship, it will fall prey to whimsy and the tumultuous pull of the world. The faith that Jesus requires demands the engagement of the whole of a person: body, mind, and soul. If we are dependent on our emotional self for the confirmation of our faith, we will inevitably be dissatisfied.
If we desire to live out the greatest commandment (Matt. 22:37), every aspect of our life needs be used to worship and love the Lord. When we gauge devotion and love on the foibles of our emotions, we are limiting our ability to fulfill the will of God. Conversion can flood us with emotional highs that are unsustainable over a lifetime. God has blessed us with the ability to feel and emote, but our faith is not to be based on this gift. There is a time for the highs but it is coupled with time for the lows. We need to have a faith that is strong and sufficient in the Lord who will keep us secure in both. Praise be to God that He would desire to have relationships with us that go beyond our unstable emotions!
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