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Where Are Your Affections?, October 27
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on
things above, not on things on the earth.
Colossians 3:1, 2
.
We may have high anticipations in regard to the things of this life, but
we shall meet with disappointment. We shall find that they fade away. But
here is “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you” (
1 Peter 1:4
). We want our thoughts to
be fixed on the things that will abide, not upon those that pass away with
the using....
When Christ came into this world He saw that men had left the future,
eternal life out of their reckoning. He came to present that life before
us, that by beholding it we might be led to change our relation to the
things of this life, that our affections might be placed upon the things
above, and not upon the things of the earth, so soon to pass away. The
shadow that Satan has caused to intervene between our souls and God
Christ seeks to roll back, that the view of God and eternity may become
clear. While He does not despise this world, He places it in its proper
position of subordination. And then He places the things of eternity in
their relative importance before us, that we may fix the eye of faith upon
the unseen. The things of temporal interest have power to engross the
thoughts and affections, and it is important that we should be constantly
educating and training our minds to dwell upon things of eternal interest.
Will this make us unhappy? Will it cause us to have a hard time here?
No, indeed.... The more of the Spirit of God, the more of His grace, is
brought into our daily experience, the less friction there will be, the more
happiness we shall have, and the more we shall impart to others.
God does not design that eternity shall overwhelm us and unfit us
for the duties of this life, and it will never do this if we accustom our
minds to dwell upon the themes of eternity and mingle them with our life
duties. The contemplation of eternal realities will not disqualify us for the
duties of this life. All the useful pursuits and activities of life are to stand
revealed to us as encircled with the hallowed rainbow of promise.
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