Feelings are a part of us.
Christian experiences are felt; that is, they affect the emotions as
well as the will. Feelings fluctuate, and, in fact, in many cases become
very unruly, like spoiled children, and want everything their own way.
Bad news will produce sad feelings. If you receive a letter today
announcing the wedding of a friend, you rejoice; if it announces a death,
you sorrow. If you are sick in body your feelings may partake of the
quality of your physical condition. It is well that our feelings enter
into our lives in this way, else we should lack the sympathy, love, and
other emotions that are essential to social happiness. So let us thank
God we have feelings; they connect us with the joys and sorrows of others.
But let us not gage our Christian experience by the way we feel.
Sanctified people have feelings that are natural. Man was created with
all the social instincts before the fall. Before sin came in, he was
told to multiply and replenish the earth. Out of the two natures, male
and female, arise all the social instincts that produce families, homes,
laws, and governments.
Man, however, is twofold in being, with soul and body in union.
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