MANAGING OUR AFFECTION

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2)

Spiritual life involves our whole persons. It is more than the perfunctory observance of ritualistic requirements, or fulfilling a set of rules. When we are born again, a very real experience takes place. Scripture refers to it as dying and being raised with Christ: "If then you were raised with Christ . . . For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col 3:1,3). This is a description of "newness of life" (Rom 6:4). It involves a loss of basic sensitivity to this world, and the dominance of a new sensitivity to the world to come. In Christ we are recreated (2 Cor 5:17). This is required by the nature of salvation. Because this world has been cursed, we are being uprooted from it, and being prepared for eternity with Jesus.

But we do not have to wait for death or the coming of the Lord to begin our participation in the things of God. There are really "things above" – eternal verities that enrich and sustain the soul. However, these "things" are to be sought, and that with great fervency. Those who do not seek them will not obtain them. And, those who do not obtain them will be excluded from the Presence of the Lord.

Seeking these things is a matter of the heart. It involves our affection, or preference for them. Some versions translate the verse we are considering, "Set your minds . . . " The word "affection" involves more than mere intellectual assessment. It includes a preference and high regard for, as well as purpose and determination. The involvement of the heart is dominant in setting our "affection" on something. We cannot do without the object of our affection. We are compelled to seek it.

God writes the law upon our hearts, but we set our affection on "things above." If we are tempted to wonder what these things are, they reside "where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God" (Col 3:1). They relate to salvation, are eternal, and are dispensed from the Throne of grace.

But what of that soul who chooses not to seek these things which are managed by Jesus–these essential things? Such slothful souls will not obtain them! They cannot be gained while indifferent toward them. Neither do they come to us automatically, or while we are around others who are seeking them. If we do not want them, we shall not have them! It is refreshing to know there is grace to help refine our appetites and increase our search for these things.

PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Christ, undergird my effort to place my affection on the things above, where He is seated at Your right hand.

-- MONDAY: A COVENANT OF PEACE --