Russell Haffner
Our salvation is not based on the way we feel. Our feelings are much too fickle and subjective to be sure guides concerning our salvation. A preacher once wrote, "Feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving; my warrant is the Word of God-- naught else is worth believing."
2 Corinthians 5:20, "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God."
In Acts 8, we read about a man who served as the treasurer for the queen of Ethiopia. He had been to Jerusalem to worship and was on his way back to his homeland. As he traveled in his chariot, he was reading from the book of Isaiah the prophet. A preacher by the name of Philip came to him and asked if he understood what he was reading. The Ethiopian replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he asked Philip to study with him. "Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him" (Acts 8:35). We know that when Philip "preached Jesus" to the Ethiopian he included the proper response to the good news of Jesus, because when they came to some water, the Ethiopian asked, "What hinders me from being baptized?" Then both Philip and the Ethiopian went down into the water where Philip baptized him.
Now notice the effect his obedience had upon this Ethiopian. The Bible says, "He went on his way rejoicing" (Acts 8:39). Why? Because he knew he had done what the Lord commanded him to do to be saved from his sins (cf. Acts 2:38). His feelings of gratitude and joy followed his obedience to the truth of the gospel of Jesus. His salvation was not based on the way he felt, but knowing that he had obeyed the truth. His emotions of relief and joy were only justified after his obedience.
Our salvation is not based on the way we feel, but upon our obedience to Christ as commanded in the written Word of God. "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).
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