A battle for the affections for the heart
August 30th, 2010 by blog
By Paul Greenham
Dan’s recent sermon on Genesis 22 (from July 25) touches on what I consider to be some major themes in the Christian life. What stands out to me most clearly is the nature of Abraham’s faith, which was not at all blind, but rather banked on God’s proven character. What also stands out is the gravity of God’s command to Abraham and testing the degree of his faith by asking him to let go of the one thing most likely to be an idol: his son.
It seems to me that so much of life as a Christian is a battle for the affections for the heart. I’m often tempted to judge my progress or spiritual state according to what I do or don’t do (regretting sins, or being pleased with my righteous actions). But our actions only function at the symptomatic level; while they are helpful ways to consider what may be happening in the heart, they do not entirely reveal the battle for the heart. Why else would Jesus summarize all the law and the prophets with the command to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind? I consider the process of sanctification to be one of constant change in our affections towards God and away from idols.
I am often confronted with a desire for something to fill me or to help me escape and to take away my feelings of loneliness, meaninglessness or fear. This desire is frequently connected to my emotional state, and hence my affections. I’ve heard many excellent sermons about idolatry (Dan’s included), and it keeps coming back to this: I try to make a functional saviour out of almost anything. I exhaust all my options, and only after pushing and straining to find my hope in every activity and entertainment and yet continuing to feel the hunger, emptiness and uselessness of looking to anything other than God, for more than those things are designed to give, or capable of giving do I run to Him and find that for which I’ve been searching all along.
We not only need the gospel at the beginning of the Christian walk; we need it at every single point – and largely to remind ourselves continually that the battle is for our own hearts: for where and to whom we turn in the trials of life.
I believe God was reminding Abraham of Isaac’s status in his life. Isaac was most certainly a very beloved and cared for child, and the very proof of God’s fulfilled promise and his desire to bless Abraham, but in the end he was a gift, not the giver. Abraham’s faith that God’s promise of blessing through Isaac was not negated by God’s command to sacrifice Isaac and it demonstrated an amazing reliance on God’s faithfulness to his own promise Abraham showed faith in the consistency of God’s character and his ultimate substitutionary provision in the coming Lamb, as Dan explained in his sermon (you can find the sermon here: http://www.gracetoronto.ca/resources/sermons/?sermon_id=75) I am amazed by Abraham’s love for God. The affections of his heart were directed toward God and were based on his knowledge of, and belief in, God’s consistent character.
I have found in the times I do turn to God in earnest prayer for the fulfillment of my desires and needs (which I so often seek to be fulfilled by relationships, TV shows, or success), he really does give provide fulfillment. I long to go straight to him instead of running through the usual idols before laying my brokenness before him. Reflecting on Dan’s sermon, I have noticed a feedback loop in process, as the more we go to God up front, the more we learn to in his consistent faithfulness and ability to fulfill us and the more likely we are to seek him immediately in the future. This is the process of sanctification, as God changes the affections of our hearts to match the status he has already declared us to have in Christ.
One Response to “A battle for the affections for the heart”
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Beautifully put, Paul