Devotion 4 - Affection of Our Heart
Matt. 4:17 – “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
To repent is to feel remorseful for something we have done and to be so conscience-stricken that we choose not to do it again.
Neglected Aspect of Repentance
Eph.4:28 – “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labour, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.”
If we no longer steal but start working hard to get what we desire, we have just changed our action and mind, but the affection of our heart has not change. Our heart is still captured by the world. God is still not our satisfaction, our all in all. However, the great commandment is a called to shift the affection of our heart.
Matt. 22:37-38 – “Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.”
The great commandment is meant to remind us our natural tendency to worship idols. An idol is making something or someone other than Jesus Christ our true source of happiness or fulfilment. We all have a “personal center,” an ultimate value and pursue we live for. For some of us it can be approval, reputation, social status or material success. For others, it can be comfort, pleasure, money or a relationship. However, if we truly want to experience the abundant life Jesus promises, we must learn to live a Christ centered life. Abundant life can only be experienced through an abandoned life in Christ. When we allow Christ to be the center of affection in our heart, it will empower us to effectively navigate the mountains and valleys of our life experience.
So, repentance should not be merely a changing of our external behaviour but primarily as a willingness to pull our heart affections and trust away from our idols. When Jesus calls us to repent, he is not calling us to merely clean up our lives, but most importantly, He is calling us to a radical change of heart. Our root problem in any aspect of life is not an external, behavioural problem, it is a problem of the heart. For that reason, many remedies inevitably leave us unchanged and in denial or despair, because they all bypass the heart. Repenting of our heart’s affection is vital for us to have a healthy spiritual life.
The Bible says we should "...obey the Lord...turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul" (Deut. 30:10). Turning your heart to God requires us to re-train our loves and affections towards the Lord. To live a radical new life for Jesus, we must first repent of the ungodly affection of our hearts.
Jer. 17:9-10 - “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
The reason our heart is not more transformed is because we have allowed our heart to be captured by idols that steal our affection away from God. God has created man to be a worshipper, thus, we are always worshipping something, whether we are conscious of it or not. The root of our sin is always the sin of heart idolatry.
We are Tempted by the Affections in our Heart
Jas1:13-15 – “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
Whatever we live for has great power over us. If our idol is threatened, we can be paralyzed with fear. If we lose our idol, we can be driven into utter despair. This is because the idols we worship give us our sense of worth or righteousness. When we allow the affections of our heart to be captured by idols, they will hinder the transforming power and presence of God in our lives. In fact, one of the reasons many do not experience more of God’s transforming power and presence in our lives is because we have not sufficiently crucified the idolatries of our own heart.
Turning Heart Affections to Jesus Christ
Col.3:1 - “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.”
Gal.6:14 – “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
We need to repent and turn the affection of our heart to Jesus that we might be transformed into true worshipers of God and more authentic lovers of people. A person may be struggling with stress or worry, trying to repent and surrender their anxiety before God, but yet see very little victory. The core reason could be the internal idolatrous sin.
We need to be obsessed with Jesus to experience the transforming power of the gospel which crucifies the dominating power of our sinful nature and the idolatrous lure of the world. Only when Jesus Christ becomes more attractive to us that the pleasures of sin in our heart could ever be set free. The enslaving power of sin will never dissipate until a greater affection of the heart replaces it. Hence, it is often the sin of excessive affection of our heart that is sapping the life dominating power has over us.
Joel 2:13 – “Don’t tear your clothing in your grief but tear your hearts instead. Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish.” (NLT)
Ps.139:23-24 – “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!”
God is not interested just in our outward repentance; we need a genuine inner repentance of our heart. King David regularly made time to be quiet before God and wait on Him. He prayed for God to search his heart and reveal anything that was offensive in him and asked God to lead him down the right path again. Like David, we need to make self-reflection, confession and repentance an ongoing habit.
Ps.51:10 – “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
We often repent of our wrong actions, behaviour and attitude; however, we do not repent of the hidden affections of our heart. There must be a change of affections, what we love. Be mindful, the world always promised fulfilment but delivers emptiness.
We can be a Christ follower and yet still love the world and the system of the world. What captures the affection of our heart can corrupt us or consecrate us. For that reason, we are exhorted to “Guard our heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (Prov.4:23). This is more than a warning or an admonition, it is a command!