The Place of Our Affections

Many times I have talked with Christians over the place of our emotions in our spiritual lives.  Often I have heard someone describe the spiritual struggles of a Christian this way, “They are just going on their emotions.  Their feelings rule them, not God’s word.”  They are encouraged to “obey the Bible, no matter how you feel.”  We must obey the Lord even though our fallen nature is resistant.  The fallen nature will always be there.  But new desires will be there too.  If nourished and strengthened these desires will transform us.  Christians who never develop a fervent passion for God’s word will never consistently read it.  Christian obedience is not about ignoring our affections, it is a matter of seeing our desires changed!  That is the heart of Christian spirituality.  So often in the Psalms David expresses his great love for God’s word!  The first and greatest commandment is to love God.  The Bible tells us that the beginning of wisdom is to fear God.  Love and fear are affections.  As Jonathan Edwards wrote, religious affections are the heart of our relationship with God.  One popular Evangelical author acknowledges that we must read our Bibles, even though we all know we would rather watch a movie.  I know no such thing!  I will go along with David, who often said that God’s word was his delight.