Affections
'Withhold
not thy affection from us'
That's
an unusual admonition,
isn't it? For it implies that we have a choice as to whether we will
have
or show
affection or “tender mercies” towards other people. Love is not
something you generate yourself but it's a gift from God because “God
is love” and the fruit of the Spirt begins with love: “The
fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness,
self-control. . . .”
Gal. 5:22-23
Not
only so, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the
Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans
5:5 ESV
But
the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit told us
that it's possible for us to block that love or “withhold it.”
He wrote to his Corinthian brethren, “We
are not withholding our affection
from you, but you are withholding
yours from us. As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open
wide your hearts also.” 2
Cor. 6:11-13
So
you can either “close your heart” towards others or “open wide
your heart.”
The
Apostle John speaks to the same matter: 'By
this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to
lay down our lives for the brothers.
But
if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet
closes
his heart against him,
how does God’s love abide in him?
Little
children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.'
1
John 3:16-18 esv
“Affection”
is a very interesting word. Similar to love but not quite the same,
perhaps a sub-division within the broader category of the word love.
Jonathan Edwards has written extensively about the importance of our
affections and how they are directed. We do well to heed his many
scriptural teachings. Philippians 1:8
speaks
of the “affection
of Christ Jesus and Luke 1:78 and many places in the Psalms speak of
“the tender
mercy of our God.”
That's what affection
does. Love may or may not have emotion,
but affection always does.
Even more than fondness, affection has pity and compassion and
emotional feeling for the other person. You
esteem them highly, respect them and admire them.
Affection certainly motivates you to serve and help and encourage
the other person.
And
when we think of our affection towards God, it goes even deeper
because of the majesty and glory of God Himself. Jonathan Edwards,
1703-1758, wrote 250 years ago, 'There is a divine and superlative
glory . . .an excellency that is of a vastly higher kind, and more
sublime nature than in other things, a glory greatly distinguishing
from all that is earthly and temporal . . . . We rationally believe
that God is glorious, and we also have a sense of the gloriousness of
God in our heart. There is not only a rational belief that God is
holy, and that holiness is a good thing, but there is a sense of the
loveliness of God in our heart. We know that God is gracious but we
also have a sense of the beauty of this divine attribute.'
We
understand truths about God but God also gives us 'the sense of the
heart, as when there is a sense of the beauty, amiableness, or
sweetness of a thing, so that the heart is sensible of pleasure and
delight in the presence of the idea of it.'
'There
is a difference between having an opinion that God is holy and
gracious and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that
holiness and grace. There is a difference between having a rational
judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness.
If you've never tasted honey, you do not know exactly how it tastes.
'So
there is a difference between believing that a person is beautiful,
and having a sense of her beauty. . . . There is a wide difference
between speculative rational judging any thing to be excellent and
having a sense of its sweetness and beauty. . . . Wlhen the heart is
sensible of the beauty of something or someone, it necessarily feels
pleasure. . . .
“This
sense of the divine excellency of things contained in the word of God
brings a conviction of the truth and reality of them.'” from
The
Rational Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards
by John Gerstner, vol. I, pages 201-202.
Love
longs for response and
affection gives it.
One of the most satisfying parts of love is to be able to share a
particular event or situation with someone you love. When you see
something beautiful or desirable or worthwhile, your first reaction
is to want to share it with someone you love. That's an important
part of enjoyment and pleasure. It is part of our fellowship
with the other person. “I carry you in my heart” even when they
are not with you.
But
affection can also simply mean “tender
mercies.”
And
Ephesians 4:32 tells us to be kind and “tenderhearted” one to
another. God treats His people with “tender mercies.” We see
them daily. 'The
Lord is
good to all: and his tender mercies are
over all his works.'
Ps.145:9
'Great
are
thy tender mercies, O Lord. . .'
Ps.
119:156
And
in Psalm 40:11 David prays that God will not “withhold”
His tender mercies from him. He won't withhold them because God is
in His Being, in His attributes, “tenderhearted” towards all He
has made. He always does what is best for them. But it is possible,
as we have seen, for us to “withhold”
our affection or tender mercies from each other. That's why Jesus
told His disciples that “By this shall all know
that ye are my disciples, if
ye have love one to another.” John
13:35 So
affection
and love are the “final apologetic”
to show
the
truth of the Gospel and its reality in our lives and the Presence of God Himself giving us that love and affection.
