Faith: Feelings, Fact, or Fiction

This morning at work I was pondering the different variations of faith. It seems to me the majority of them can be broken into three types:

Feelings-
A feelings faith is one that ebbs and flows according to your emotions. If you feel close to Jesus, you believe in Him and His plan. When things aren't going so hot, you tend to doubt and question whether its real. In other words, if you feel good about life-Gods present. If you don't-He's not. For example, I love worship music. If I'm really feeling a certain song I sometimes suppose that I'm in Gods presence. When it's a song I don't know or just don't like as much-I doubt Gods there.

Fact-
This is the sort of faith I want to have more of. The black and white, no-nonsense, I know what I'm talking about faith. God's real no matter what happens or what I feel. A steady faith realizing that God's power isn't limited to how you're feeling today. God is real, whether you like it or not. I tend to see people with this faith and envy their unwavering soul. How they "just know". I believe in Jesus and that He's not limited to my ideas of Him, I do, but sometimes I get caught up in the feelings faith instead of the knowing faith.

Fiction-
Now this might be going out a bit on a limb, but there's another sort of faith I pondered. Similar to feelings, but it takes it to the next level. Fiction faith is believing that whatever anyone wants to believe, it'll be ok. In other words, it doesn't matter what god you believe in as long as it makes you "happy". I call this fiction faith because to me it's the sort of thing that is, well, fake and unrealistic-to put it bluntly. Believing that whatever you believe is ok really means that you're saying religion is something people believe when they want comfort-but beyond that it doesn't really mean anything: "So long as you're happy". This faith is fiction because it doesn't work in our world. It just won't fit right. If you're a Christian and believe the Bible, then you also have to believe John 14:6 where it says Jesus is the only way to the Father (aka heaven). Do I sometimes wish this wasn't true so everybody could just believe what they want to and we could all be happy? Sure. But God isn't someone you barter with. You don't get to decide how He could make His plan better-it's already perfect.

I believe fiction faith is just that-false. But I struggle more between fact and feelings. I believe there's a balance. Jesus gave us feelings for a reason and He can reach us through these feelings. However, Jesus is also just as close to you when you don't feel Him there. Moreover, you need fact in your faith because without a solid foundation, you'll be lost. I don't have all the answers. I'm still trying to find the balance. But I believe the first step to deepening your faith is realizing what it's made up of in the first place.