“On a scale of 1 to 10, how’s your pain?”

Often, my kids will come and say they have a headache or a tummy ache, or their throat is sore, or they hurt their knee. I can’t feel their pain, but I can sympathize and guess what it feels like based on my own experiences.

But mostly, I have to take it on testimony. If my kids say they’re in pain, I have to take their word for it.

Have you ever noticed that so much of the Christian life depends on believing God’s testimony in the absence of your feelings?

I was reading Watchman Nee’s The Normal Christian Life; he described how some people can become so conscious of their sins and so weighted down by them, that they seem greater than the blood of Christ. Nee explained that’s a mistake:

“Now the whole trouble with us is that we are trying to sense it; we are trying to feel its value and to estimate subjectively what the Blood is for us. We cannot do it; it does not work that way” (p. 20).

So how does it work?

As Nee explained, you must look past your feelings and accept God’s testimony about the value of the blood:

“No, it is a matter of faith in God’s Word. We have to believe that the Blood is precious to God because he says it is so (1 Peter 1:18, 19)” (p. 20).

You might not feel the value of the blood, but so what? You might not feel it when your kids are in pain, but you take their word that they are in pain. Likewise, you may not feel the value of the blood, but you should take God’s word that it is valuable to Him.

Frankly, it’s hard to walk by faith when your feelings say one thing, and God’s Word says another. But that’s key to spiritual growth: believe God’s testimony. It can save you from a spiritual headache.