My Affections

Matt Chandler who is a pastor of a church in Dallas was interviewed for a magazine and was asked the question "What does warring against sin look like?" to which he responds:

Sanctification here at The Village begins by answering two questions. What stirs your affections for Jesus Christ? And what robs you of those affections? Many of the things that stifle growth are morally neutral. They're not bad things. Facebook is not bad. Television and movies are not bad. I enjoy TV, but it doesn't take long for me to begin to find humorous on TV what the Lord finds heartbreaking.

The same goes for following sports. It's not wrong, but if I start watching sports, I begin to care too much. I get stupid. If 19-year-old boys are ruining your day because of what they do with a ball, that's a problem. These things rob my affections for Christ. I want to fill my life with things that stir my affections for him. After a funeral I walked around the cemetery and found a grave of a guy who died when he was my age. I felt my mortality in that moment and it made me love the Lord. It really did. Some types of epic films do that for me, and so does angst-filled music.

We want our people to think beyond simply what's right and wrong. We want them to fill their lives with things that stir their affections for Jesus Christ and, as best as they can, to walk away from things that rob those affections—even when they're not immoral. To read the full article that was very good go here.

This statement has begged the response of what stirs and what robs my affections for Jesus. This isn't something that I think about normally... probably because that means I have to walk away from things that I love... but the truth is he is right. So... if for no one else than me I have come up with my list. I think you all should do it to. It's pretty humbling.

Things that stir my heart towards Christ:
- The cemetery on the East side of Austin
- Reading Scripture
- Listening to sermons
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