What do I know?

Awhile back in a staff meeting, Rick Holland took a few minutes to point out a difference in how us believers should view life and it’s circumstances compared to how the world does. He said typically the world, and us in our sinful mindsets, view life through a set of questions 1. What do I feel? 2. What do I think? 3. What do I know? He explained that starting out with the question “What do I feel?” sets us on a journey to base everything off emotion and feeling which typically leads us to sin. By the time we do that, the answers to the following two questions are very me oriented and full of sin also. The answer to the “what do I think?” question is full of doubts and worries. By the time we get to the “what do I know?” question we can only assume that we know that life is falling apart at the seams, and there’s no hope.
Rick went on to encourage us to view life through the same set of questions, but in a different order. 1. What do I know? 2. What do I think? 3. What do I feel? Beginning by focusing on what we know to be true allows us to set our thoughts on God and what we know to be true of Him. I know that God is in complete control. I know that He sovreignly ordains every circumstance of life and that nothing is out of His control. I know that His plan is perfect and that he will reveal it in His timing. I could go on and on but I think you get the point. By beginning with what we know of God we set the stage to be able to respond to whatever He has brought along with a much more sinless approach. This time, when we come to the second and third questions the answers have the potential to be very different. The answer to “What do I think?” will be full of thoughts based off scripture and what I know of God rather than worries and what I know of me. And what do I feel? I can feel nothing but safe in the grace of God, finding rest in the confidence that HE knows best! (paraphrase from a song sung by Steve Green)

The problem is that this does not come naturally to us, we operate on auto Pilate when it comes to responding by our feelings. Switching the gears around to begin by dwelling on what we know takes a lot of work and prayer. After Rick shared this with us I wrote those three questions on a sticky note and stuck them on the edge of my monitor at work, sadly it wasn’t until today that I noticed them there and realized that I have not been viewing life and our current circumstances that way. I so easily respond by my feelings!! I am so thankful to our patient God for his forgiveness and grace that helps us in our weakness.

So as you go about your day, you have a choice to make. Are you going to view life based on how you feel, or what you know?