F. B. Meyer

Emotions are fickle. Feelings are like waves; they come and go. F. B. Meyer (1847-1929) made popular the slogan “Fact! Faith! Feeling!” in his preaching and writing. The point of the motto is the order. First, the facts about Christ. Second, the response in faith. Third, the feelings that may or may not accompany faith. The “Four Spiritual Laws” booklet depicted the slogan as a train: the locomotive is fact, the coal car is faith, and the caboose is feeling. The application followed, “The train will run with or without a caboose. However, it would be futile to pull the train by the caboose.” Many people put feelings first. As an itinerant evangelist, Meyer witnessed firsthand the dangers inherent in excess emotionalism at revival meetings. He also found that emotions were notoriously unreliable indicators of spiritual vitality. He once said, “I had to tell myself a hundred times every day that my experience of spiritual blessing was true because I did not feel it and had no joy of it.” In his 1896 book The Secret of Guidance, he observed, “Feelings are deceptive. They are affected by the state of our hearts, changes in the weather, society, and the absence of those we love. When the air is light, the sun shines, and we have slept well, we are more likely to feel disposed toward God than when the dripping November fog drenches the woodlands.” What was his solution? Trust God’s promises. Live by faith. Be indifferent to emotions. If feelings come, be thankful. If they don’t follow, go on doing God’s will. God loves us, regardless of what we feel about it. Meyer wrote Our Daily Walk devotional as a series of 365 Bible readings and prayers. One of his daily prayers centers us today in trust and faith: