Home     Speaking Inquiry     Author Bio     Order Now     doctrinal statement     article directory


The Value of Our Affections


My four year old son has learned to write his name now.  My sister had bought a birthday card for her friend, and she wanted him to also sign the card.  He kept joking around, pretending to write his name but not doing it.  My sister, starting to get a little agitated, said to him, “I’ll give you candy if you’ll just write it.”  He happily agreed and began writing.  I said to him, mostly under my breath, “That’s all your affection is worth?  Just some candy?”

I joked that to myself, but then began thinking:  Often our affections can be purchased so cheaply.  The affection and adoration that should be lavished on Christ alone can become easily purchased away from Christ by our adult “candy”.  Instead of loving God with all our hearts, our love  is bargained away by our desires for a new car, a better house, a cuter appearance, the praise of men, or a higher education.  How cheap is the cost of a new house compared to the value of knowing Christ!  What robbery it is for the cares of this life to overtake our fondness for seeking God alone. 

Let us put up our guard, so that the alarms of our heart would fiercely ring when any intruder might slip in and seek to steal the affections that belong only to God.  Let’s protectively guard our hearts, as the Proverbs declare we must do, saying, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23).