The Christian walk isn’t designed to be about your personal enjoyment.
While there are benefits—emotional, spiritual, or otherwise—they are not the main focus of the faith.
Too often, people approach Christianity expecting it to provide them with a sense of happiness, comfort, or joy as if that’s the primary goal of following Christ.
That’s a misstep.
The Christian walk isn’t a guarantee of emotional highs or earthly rewards. It’s about one thing—obedience—getting the soul into a saved state and, ultimately, into heaven.
Christianity’s Purpose: Getting to Heaven
The purpose of the Christian life is not centered on how we feel during it – because at times you are going to feel negative.
The point is simple: obey God to get your soul into heaven.
That’s the goal, and anything else is secondary.
Your enjoyment, emotional satisfaction, or personal peace doesn’t have much to do with it.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in emotional experiences and think that peace, joy, and comfort are automatic outcomes of obedience, but Scripture doesn’t promise that.
What God commands is obedience, whether you feel good about it or not.
Commands Over Comfort
The Bible is full of commands, not suggestions. These commands are not tied to your emotional state or personal satisfaction. For example:
• Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NKJV): “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.” The command here is clear: keep His commandments. There’s no mention of needing to enjoy it. It’s an obligation.
• Matthew 7:21 (NKJV): “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” Obedience to God’s will is non-negotiable. That’s the ticket to heaven, not whether or not you find joy in that obedience.
It’s Not About Emotional Rewards
Many people have twisted Christianity into something that promises emotional or even physical rewards.
There’s this notion that if you do what’s right, God will give you peace, comfort, or joy as a byproduct. And sure, sometimes those feelings may come—but there are no guarantees.
You may go through periods where you don’t feel any of these things, where obeying God feels like a grind, where church attendance is a chore, and worship doesn’t excite you.
It’s important to understand that emotional fulfillment is not the measure of faithfulness. The Bible never says, “Do this and you’ll feel good about it.” It says, “Do this because you must.”
Look at these verses:
• Luke 17:10 (NKJV): “So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ’We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’” This verse is key because it strips away any sense of entitlement to reward. The Christian life is a duty.
• 2 Timothy 3:12 (NKJV): “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” You might not like it, but following Christ may actually bring suffering rather than emotional rewards.
Emotional Attachment Is Misleading
People often conflate obedience with feeling good about being obedient.
This is a mistake.
You can do the right thing without liking it.
In fact, a lot of the commands in Scripture require sacrifice, self-denial, and discipline—things that naturally don’t feel good.
Jesus Himself didn’t come to earth and enjoy every moment of His mission. Hebrews 5:8 (NKJV) says, “Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”
Obedience is not about feeling joyful all the time.
Sometimes, it’s about suffering through, pushing forward, and doing what is necessary because that’s what God requires.
The Prosperity Gospel Is False
On the extreme end of this false narrative is the prosperity gospel, the idea that following God will bring financial, physical, or material rewards. That’s nonsense.
Scripture doesn’t back that up, and anyone who teaches that is misleading their listeners.
If you want to be rich, serving God is not a formula for accomplishing that.
You have to work and achieve your own success, and if God allows it, then you will be rich.
But being faithful does not confer wealth to people.
Look at Matthew 6:19-20 (NKJV): “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” God doesn’t promise earthly rewards for obedience. In fact, we are told not to expect earthly gain.
Our focus should be on eternal rewards.
Focus on Obedience, Not Feelings
The Christian life is about doing what is right regardless of how you feel.
- You may not always like it.
- You might not feel good about depriving yourself of earthly pleasures, about taking up your cross and following Christ daily.
- You might never feel a rush of joy or excitement when you go to worship or obey a difficult command.
That doesn’t matter. What matters is obedience.
• Philippians 2:12 (NKJV): “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” This verse stresses effort, not enjoyment. You have to put in the work, regardless of how it feels.
You Don’t Have to Enjoy It
Here’s the reality: you don’t have to enjoy worship, or giving up sin, or following the commandments. You just have to do it.
You don’t have to feel a longing for fellowship or an emotional connection to the rituals and acts of worship.
Those things aren’t essential to salvation. Obedience is.
Matthew 7:21 (NKJV) makes it plain: “He who does the will of My Father” will enter heaven. It doesn’t say “he who feels joy”, “he who feels peace” or “he who feels positive emotions while worshipping.”
Do What’s Required
At the end of the day, the Christian walk is about obedience. Whether or not you find personal enjoyment in it is irrelevant.
There is a purpose to this life that can be understood intellectually but doesn’t have to be felt emotionally: to get your soul into heaven.
The means to that end is doing what God commands, regardless of whether you enjoy the process or not.
Emotions are not the barometer of faithfulness. Actions are.
So don’t get caught up in whether you’re feeling fulfilled, comforted, or joyful all the time.
Worry about what you’re doing, not about how you’re feeling.
Because when it comes down to it, that’s what God requires: pure obedience.
