Reorienting Our Affections

For those of us who have been Christians for any length of time, 1 John 2:15-17 is no doubt a familiar passage of Scripture. In these verses John states: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." These verses speak to our affections (our love), particularly to our affections when they have shifted away from God. As fallen creatures, we are often drawn away from God and towards sinful things. When this happens, we do not simply need to turn our gaze from sinful things, but we need to look toward the Lord. We need to reorient our affections.

Thomas Chalmers was a Scottish pastor who lived from 1780-1847. He preached what has become a very well-known sermon on 1 John 2:15-17 titled The Expulsive Power of a New Affection. In it, Chalmers addresses how man is to rid himself of a love for the world. He states:

"There are two ways in which a practical moralist may attempt to displace from the human heart its love of the world—either by a demonstration of the world's vanity, so as that the heart shall be prevailed upon simply to withdraw its regards from an object that is not worthy of it; or, by setting forth another object, even God, as more worthy of its attachment, so as that the heart shall be prevailed upon not to resign an old affection, which shall have nothing to succeed it, but to exchange an old affection for a new one…..The love of the world cannot be expunged by a mere demonstration of the world's worthlessness. But may it not be supplanted by the love of that which is more worthy than itself? The heart cannot be prevailed upon to part with the world, by a simple act of resignation. But may not the heart be prevailed upon to admit into its preference another, who shall subordinate the world, and bring it down from its wonted ascendancy."¹

Chalmers’ Aim

What point is Chalmers making here? Simply trying to quit sinning by recognizing that a particular sin is worthless or vain will not last. Even if we do seem to gain a momentary victory over the particular sin it will often times present itself in other ways. This is because we have not addressed the heart issue OR we have just left a void to be potentially filled by some other sinful desire. As Calvin has stated, "man's nature…is a perpetual factory of idols".² Our minds (our hearts) are never-ending factories that can produce and cling to all sorts of objects for us to focus our desires on. We are probably all too familiar with the battle to chase after the idols of our hearts instead of after God. Simply tossing out one idol and leaving a void will not work. Chalmers recognizes this and notes that another object must take our minds captive and then it "disposes the first of its influences."

This thinking pre-dates Chalmers though and is no doubt familiar to many of us. Paul introduces this in Ephesians 4:20-32 as what is commonly known as the put off/put on principle. Paul's description is this passage presents the picture of someone changing a garment. The Ephesians, and believers today as well, are told to take off the old garment, one of corruption “through deceitful desires," and to put on a new garment "created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness". Paul does not see the removal of the first garment as the end result. Rather, he tells his readers that after removing the first (the old self) we must then put on the new garment (the new self). Paul views both steps as necessary. This is not simply a surface change though. Paul mentions our desires. What we want. What we lust after. What we have a passion for. Underlying this is an even greater question: What are we worshipping? Or perhaps to state it differently to focus on our heart condition: What does my heart delight in?

Again, Chalmers in his sermon is helpful to point where we need to go. "We know of no other way by which to keep the love of the world out of our heart, than to keep in our hearts the love of God—and no other way by which to keep our hearts in the love of God, than building ourselves up on our most holy faith." It is at this point that I would like to add to Chalmers. Where is one place that we go to build ourselves up in our most holy faith? Building our faith is not some zap that we magically get and instantly have a faith that desires God above all else. This is not us thinking that maybe we can just muster up enough faith, then our love for the world will decrease. In this view, faith becomes some mystical thing that is hard to quantify. It becomes something that we must work up in ourselves and in our own strength. NO!!! Our faith will grow as we come to know more and more about the Object of our faith. And we learn about the Object of our faith, God, in His Word.

Delighting in God’s Word

There are many places in the Bible where we could turn if we wanted to stir up our hearts with a love for God and his Word, but perhaps none are better than Psalm 119. Let's take a brief look at Psalm 119, a sort of 20,000-foot flyover, specifically focusing on some of the wording that the psalmist uses throughout the psalm as he addresses God and his Word. The psalmist gives us a vivid description of what it would look like if we set our affections upon God and not upon the things of this world that so easily captivate and entice us. Psalm 119 contains 176 verses of focused attention meant to express the psalmist's desire to "seek God with his whole heart”, or as one author put it "it is a poem that rejoices in the fact that God has revealed himself to his people. He has spoken, and the unnamed psalmist shows intense devotion to the word of God. The focus of attention throughout is on God."³

Psalm 119 focuses in on God by way of his commandments and its multiple synonyms: his precepts, his law, his Word, his ways, his statutes, his testimonies, and his ordinances. One struggle that we may often have is to study God's Word simple for the sake of knowledge. In verse 2 the psalmist corrects this view and establishes that this is not studying God's Word as a mere academic exercise, but as a way to "seek him." The goal is not to be great at Bible trivia, but to know Him!!

First of all, look a few of the many ways in which the psalmist describes his focus on God's Word: my eyes [are] fixed on all your commandments (v6), with my whole heart I will seek you (v10), in the way of your testimonies I delight (v14), My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times (v20), I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes (v48), your statutes have been my songs (v54), your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart (v111). It is clear from his choice of words that the psalmist has an intense desire to know God through his Word. Cultivating an affection for God's Word like the psalmist displays here will help to drive out affections that we may have that are sinful or leaning towards idolatrous.

The psalmist also uses vivid language to describe how he wants to relate to God's word. Take note of the language that he uses and the picture that the words create in your mind: I cling to your testimonies (v31), O LORD, I will run in the way of your commandments (v32), how sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (v103), I open my mouth and pant because I long for your commandments (v161), my heart stands in awe of your words (v161). The psalmist clings. He runs. God's words are sweet to him. He pants longingly for them. He stands in awe of them. The question that this presents to us is: Do we cling to, and run after, and desire the sweet taste of, and pant longingly and stand in awe of God's Word daily in our lives? Or do the things of this world stir our affections and rule our desires? If we are to have victory over the sins that so easily ensnare us, then we must constantly reorient our affections from the things of this world to the Creator of this world and the Word that he has given. When we do this, we come to know Him and His ways more.

A God Who Empowers His People

Finally, but certainly not least in importance, Is the psalmist doing this in his own strength? Is he finding in himself the ability to awaken these affections for God on his own? Rather than answer for him we can let his words provide the answer: let me not wander from your commandments (v10), teach me your statutes (v12), deal bountifully with your servant (v17), open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law (v18), hide not your commandments from me (v19), give me life according to your word! (v25), make me understand the ways of your precepts (v27), strengthen me according to your word! (v28), put false ways far from me (v29), give me understanding (v34), lead me in the path of your commandments (v35), incline my heart to your testimonies (v36), turn my eyes from looking at worthless things (v37). The psalmist's words clearly reflect his understanding of God sovereignly working this desire in him and his constant need for the Lord to work in him and on his behalf. So, we find in the psalmist a heart that sounds strikingly similar to the apostle Paul's understanding of his work and God working in him. The psalmist is diligent to cultivate his affections toward the Lord all the while knowing that it is God who must do the work in him to even give him the desire to seek after God.

Like the rest of our growth in the Christian life, we must put in effort. We must strive to know God more by delighting in His Word. We must desire Him more than the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life. We must fight to be holy by loving His truth more than the false claims that the world, the flesh, and the devil put before us every day. We do this knowing that any victory we have in expelling sinful affections and replacing them with affections for God is only accomplished by the Spirit and in his strength. Our growing affection for God and his Word will always be grace-fueled and Spirit-empowered, not some desire to know him that we naturally possess in ourselves. So, we should pray, like the psalmist, that God would incline our hearts to His testimonies and we should strive to find our ultimate delight in God as he has revealed himself to us in his Word.

¹ Thomas Chalmers, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection, https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/Chalmers,%20Thomas%20-%20The%20Exlpulsive%20Power%20of%20a%20New%20Af.pdf

² John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1.11.8

³ Allan Harman, Psalms: A Mentor Commentary: Volume 2: Psalms 73-150, p841-842