It’s the truth that changes you

You exaggerate out problems when you’re heading for a burnout. You overemphasize what’s wrong in your life and you ignore God’s blessing in your life. Focusing on the negative rather than the positive you see the cup as half empty not as half full. If you are always focusing on the negative in your life, if that’s all you ever look at, if you’re always putting yourself down and you’re always seeing everything negative, you’re setting yourself up for burnout. When you start Thinking "God, I’m the only person in the whole world who lives for you and loves you. Positive things or negative things can wear you out emotionally.

You can get yourself drained emotionally, spiritually, and physically where you can’t even focus on reality. In that state of mind you won’t get the picture right. You get so worn out that you can’t think straight? You can’t see what really is happening and you think the whole world is caving in on you -- the Chicken Little complex. "The sky is falling!" When you are drained and fatigued, you won’t seem to see reality as it really is.

Another cause of burnout is emotional reasoning. Emotional reasoning is when you listen to your feelings rather than the facts. You focus on how you feel rather than on what’s reality, what’s the truth. Emotion reasoning goes like this: "I feel it, therefore it must be true." Have you learned yet that emotions lie? Feelings lie. Just because you feel something doesn’t mean it’s the truth. Ask any professional athlete or performer or musician, he can tell you they feel very discouraged after a great performance. They are so drained emotionally, the adrenalin, the fatigue they’re thinking, "I didn’t do too good" but that’s not reality. In fact, they probably did a pretty good job. They may have done a great job. But in that state you start listening to your feelings. You have to learn as a mature person to ignore your feelings sometimes. Feelings can be wrong. Feelings are highly unreliable.

The truth is some who come to church say, "I don’t feel God’s very close to me. I don’t feel close to God, I don’t feel God’s close to me." You’re wrong. God is just as close to you as on those spiritual highs you felt in the past. God doesn’t move. The Bible says, if you’re a Christian, Christ is in your heart, He’s inside of you, He lives within you, and He puts His Spirit inside of you. He never leaves you. The only thing that changes is your feelings. You can sing a song and feel close to God. Then on Monday morning, you wonder, "Where’s God?" He’s the same place He was when you sang that song. He’s with you. He hasn’t backed off. He hasn’t moved. You can’t listen to your feelings.

You live in a society that emphasizes feelings, almost above everything else. Psychologists tell you, "You need to get in touch with your feelings." That’s true. You do. Any area that you’re not in touch with your feelings in is an area you can’t grow in. Any area where you don’t understand your feelings or you’re hiding your feelings is an area of denial and a non growth area; it’s out of control in your life. You do need to get in touch with your feelings.

But that’s not enough. There’s something more important than getting in touch with your feelings. It’s getting in touch with the truth. It’s the truth that changes you, not your feelings. It’s the truth that gives you a solid, successful, significant life, not feelings. Jesus did not say, "When you know your feelings, your feelings will set you free." He said, "When you know the truth, the truth will set you free." The truth will set you free. It’s the key to liberation in your life from any hang up, hurt, or habits. The truth will set you free. But first, it will probably make you miserable.