I really don’t like the words “feels like” after the temperature announced by the weatherman. It’s one thing to go out when the temperature gauge reads a cold temperature but knowing that the wind is blowing making the it feel colder causes one to loathe the thought of going outside.

Granted, it doesn’t get all that cold here in the South, but we did have an unusually cold December. On one day, we were told that the temperature was going to be 9 degrees and that the wind chill would be around -4. At that time, I was thankful for the remote start of my truck! We don’t have ice scrapers down here! In order to warm the inside and de-ice the windshield, I started my truck from the inside of my house and got back to my morning routine. After about 15 minutes, I looked out the window and saw the windshield cleared. I then went reluctantly into the cold to drive to the church. Once in my truck, I wondered what the true temperature would read. Was it 9 or would it actually read “-4?”

Which number is accurate? Is what the temperature “feels like” the reality of the actual weather? I thought about this on my short drive and again throughout the day—what is the true temperature versus what it “feels like” because of the wind around.

We live in an age of the “feels like.” Even though the texts, the evidence, and the science clearly say one thing (9 degrees for example), people want to live as if the “feels like” (-4 degrees) is the truth. In this day and age when things are clearly perceived, they are not allowed to be talked about because it threatens the political narrative (or to keep with the metaphor, your feelings). We have seen this with things that are said to be “safe and effective” even though the evidence says otherwise. We are seeing this as boys dress as girls and girls dress as boys. Even more than “dressing as,” they are taking drugs and having surgeries to change the appearance altogether! And why? It’s not on the basis of who they are…who they were created to be. It’s rather on the basis of the “feels like.” “I don’t feel like a boy, so I must be a girl.” It’s the wind chill factor of gender. The truth is evident, but the moving winds of the culture have caused what is “felt” to change and to be proclaimed as the reality. These are serious issues and can be expanded upon more than I want to do in a blog post lest I get the “tl/dr” treatment!

This “wind chill factor” spreads throughout many other areas where even you may not be able to overcome what you “feel.” You may have people all around you who show you and say that they love you, but you feel that you’re all alone. You may hear over and again that your sins are forgiven (going to private confession, even), but there’s that one thing that hangs over you that the devil harasses you about causing you to feel as if you’re forgiven for everything else but that. There is all sorts of “moving air” out there that constantly changes the way you feel at any given time. The devil is a “mover,” after all, prowling around like a roaring lion seeking whom he will devour.

But the Lord your God does not change. Despite what things may feel like for you, they are not the reality any more than the wind chill makes 9 degrees feel like -4. The moving air of the culture around you might try to deceive you with feelings, but those things aren’t true, and we need not pretend as if they are.

What is true are those things that God has made with His hands and declared from His very mouth. You can clearly perceive those things with your eyes. Do not let fickle feelings deceive you. Instead hear the certain Word of God that you are His dear child. Your sins are forgiven. The body of Jesus that was broken upon the cross and the blood that was poured out are for you to eat and to drink in the Sacrament of the Altar. This is the truth to which we must cling in the ever changing (and chilling) winds of the world.

By the way…the truck read “9 degrees.” Just as I expected.