Fact, Faith, Then Feelings

June 14, 2026

Dr. Paul Cannings

Our world has become hostile due to terrorism, the rise of racism, the inflammatory comments often stirred up on social media, and the deep partisanship that characterizes Washington. The principles of God seem to matter less and less when our feelings and personal rationing dominate our knee-jerk reactions.

With the rise in social media, people can simply “unfollow” someone on Facebook, Instagram, or whatever social media platform they may be using. With caller ID, people can ignore a person’s call. Loyalty and commitment in relationships are no longer viewed as necessary, except perhaps during major floods or hurricanes or natural disasters.

Unfortunately, rather than the church influencing a changing culture, the culture often appears to be influencing the church. Its impact has become so significant that when a person merely references Scripture during a conversation, others may become offended and want to “unfollow” as quickly as possible so they can remain within their own ideological circles (Eph. 4:17-24).

Scripture makes it clear that how a person functions in relationships is directly representative of his or her commitment to God. Consider just a few passages: Matt. 22:36-40; John 13:34-35; 1 John 2:9-10, 3:16-24; 4:7-11. This is the very essence of Christ’s prayer for His disciples (John 17:20-26). One might think that Christ would have prayed for His disciples to become great evangelist, preachers, or teachers, but He did not. Instead, He prayed for their unity.

One reason why relationships lack love and, therefore, loyalty is that we tend not to follow the biblical sequence of fact, faith and then feelings. Instead, we often reverse the order. We place feelings first because we place ourselves first (Phil. 2:1-5). Then our personal perspective becomes the “facts” of the matter (2 Tim. 2:14-26), and only afterward do we consider what God has to say. This is why, when our emotions get the best of us, Scripture instructs us to control their chief agent – the tongue (James 1:26; 19-21).

Scriptures require us to seek facts first (Matt. 18:15-21). Even Christ, when dealing with Thomas, provided evidence before expecting belief (John 20:24-29). We are then instructed not to lean to our own understanding (Prov. 3:5-6), because human wisdom is foolishness to God (1 Cor. 2) and can even become demonic in nature (James 3:13-15). Only then can we appropriately speak for ourselves and respond to others (1 Peter 3:13-18).

Whether things work out as we hoped or not, at least we brought the Holy Spirit to the situation, and where the Holy Spirit is present, there is hope for peace (Romans 15:1-7). Perhaps this is why scriptures teaches, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from

the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.” (Col. 3:23-25, NIV)

Fact, faith and then feelings (John 12:23-26).