What stirs up your affections?

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Colossians 3:1-2

We live in a time when we grow bored of things pretty quickly. We have weeks where we have a favorite song, then we move on. We have a favorite television series, then we move on. A favorite past-time, then we move on. A favorite restaurant, then we move on. Yet, praise be to God, we can never learn all there is to learn about Jesus. God calls us to dwell on Jesus Christ, and there is no limit to what He will teach us. It will take an eternity to get into the depths of Jesus Christ. I read in my Bible today even, the last verse of the the book of John: "Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written."

So in Colossians above, we are asked to set our minds on things of God and not on earthly things. So what are some practical ways to do this? There are a few basic principles that are true of everyone. I could go into each of these in greater detail and how they benefit all Christians, but my dad told me if I'm going to blog more often I should consider writing shorter blogs :) So I'll just list them here: Scripture, Prayer, Rest, Meditation, and Community. These benefits of each of these are spelled out many times in the Bible. However, there are other specific things we can do that are not necessarily right for everyone, but are right for you. So ask yourself these two questions:

1. What stirs your affections for Jesus Christ?

2. What rob you of your affections for Jesus Christ?

Matt Chandler asked these two questions of us on Sunday and I've been trying this week to consciously think about these things. Consciously note times during the day when your affections are stirred up for Christ. These are different for everyone. I'll give you some examples.

I see true worship from my dad in music. I've seen him broken and humbled before God while listening to My Redeemer by Nicole C Mullen. He has numerous praise CDs in his truck and is always showing me different powerful songs that have touched his heart. He even buys DVDs of praise bands and congregations in worship. These are things that notably stir his affections for Jesus.

My mom's affections are stirred in her friends. She has other women in her life who are God-fearing women, Beth Moore types who talk about the wonderful things of God with each other. I see true happiness in my mom and a love for Jesus pours out of her when she talks about the community she has with these women. Being in their company stirs her affections for Christ.

For me, I'm continuing to ask myself this question, and one thing I notice that stirs my affections are when I see and read of other's experiences with God. I probably quote Donald Miller too much, but in the preface to Blue Like Jazz he says,

I never liked Jazz music because Jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad theatre in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes (watching him), and he never opened his eyes.

After that I liked Jazz music.

Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.

I used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened...

My path to finding God was different than his, but I think about his illustration of Jazz music, appreciating it after seeing the passion this man had for playing it, and then relating that to having a love for God when seeing other peoples affections for Him, and I can relate. I think this is just one of many things in my life that stir up my affections for God, and I want to continue to seek these things throughout my day and be conscious of them and dwell on them, as God asks us to do.

On the flip side, regarding what robs you of your affections for Christ, these things are almost always not inherently immoral. It's important to be aware of these morally neutral things. Almost always, they are not intrinsically evil, yet because we as man are, we tend to elevate them above where they should be. So what are these things that we make idols in our lives - we're all guilty of it. Be consciously aware, and set your minds on things of Christ, realizing what is earthly and what is Godly.