I'm writing for Five Minute Friday and this week's prompt word is AFFECTION.
I’ve been mulling over the word affection all week and wondering which direction to take with it and not feeling
particularly inspired by any of it, to be honest.
But then, this morning, I read this
by Nate Johnston, which was part of a longer post that he has put up in
response to Charlie Kirk’s death and amazing memorial service, which apparently
reached over 100 million people.
“Lastly, you can’t just go back to
life as you knew it. Your appetite has
changed. Your affections have
changed. You can clearly see what you
shouldn’t be doing any more and what is pointless Christian activity. Leave it behind.”
There’s so much being said about Charlie’s
life and his words and that service, by those celebrating and those
criticizing, and I’m going to refrain from joining or arguing the points they make. But, there’s something about Charlie’s life and violent
death being a turning point, for America, but beyond that, in our own
lives. Somehow, it has woken us up from
our apathy, or it should have.
What I have seen is a huge out-pouring
of affection for Charlie Kirk, and his wife and family. And rightly so. Regardless of whether you agree with his
views or not, he was an amazing man in many respects. If you don’t think so, take the time to
listen to longer versions of the snippets that his critics love to share.
Much of what he said and the platforms
he used to say it – mostly public debating and interviews – is reminiscent of
what we see in the gospels and shown well in various scenes from The Chosen, where Jesus engaged with the public,
in all their messiness, not hidden away in the synagogue amongst only the
religious crowd.
Charlie’s words and debates elicited
similar responses to what Jesus’ words did – some lapped it up; some enjoyed
the challenge of intellectual debate; some were curious enough to travel for
miles to hear him; some celebrated; some were grateful to finally receive
answers that made sense and could be applied to their real lives; some were
openly hostile; some were secretly plotting to silence him.
There was so much affection poured
out for Charlie during the huge memorial service and in many other vigils
around the country and indeed around the world.
So, now, can we do the same for
Jesus? Please?
Perhaps Charlie, inadvertently, by
just being the best he could be, showed us something of Jesus’ intelligence,
home-grown education, character, confidence, truth presented with grace, compassion,
sacrificial living, humility, God-given purpose, a life of excellence, wholly submitted
to the Father’s will.
So, if we can admire and adore him,
can we please now look beyond him to who Jesus was and still is?
Can we turn our capacity for that
much affection into affection for Jesus?
Can we commit ourselves to getting to know this Jesus better than we
have to this point? Can we take Charlie’s
example and get more curious about Jesus, dive deeper into the gospels and the
prophecies that pointed to Him, put aside those things that distract us (even
the good things) and be all in, in our affections, not just in our work and
service and passion for the gospel? Can we
be all about Him, not just the gospel? Can
we, like the early disciples, just follow Him, even when He doesn’t make sense?
In my 40+ years as a Christian, I have
met many who are absolutely passionate about the gospel or their church doctrine,
or their service for Him, and yet somehow have missed knowing Him. I don’t believe Charlie did that, but I believe
we could do that by focusing too much on Charlie or his message.
During his memorial service, I heard
many speeches and words from politicians, apologists, teachers, leaders, and worship
leaders. Some were passionate about
Charlie. Some were passionate about his
message for America, and even about the gospel. But some were passionate about Jesus. Our first affections must be for Jesus
Himself.
And those affections need to go
deeper. But that can only happen if we
are prepared to sacrifice what distracts us, and ask the Lord to show us what
else is stealing our affections. If we’ve
been a Christian for any length of time, we should know that the enemy won’t distract
us with ‘bad’ stuff but good stuff – serving, giving, working, trying
harder.
I’m reminded of the story of Mary
and Martha which I know has been overused and taught about ad nauseum, but it
teaches us that we have to get back to sitting at His feet, and doing what HE
wants first. He has to be our primary
place of affection if anything else in our life is going to be in its rightful
place and our service done for the right reason, and we don’t end up tired and
resentful or even harmful in our passion.
We have to respond to His invitation
to come, and be childlike in our admiration and adoration of Him and affection
toward Him, so that it grows and becomes a wellspring of life – from Him, to
Him, for Him.
But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:42
Lord,
my heart is not haughty,
Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me.
Surely,
I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me. Ps 131:1-2
Come
to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. Take
My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in
heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy
and My burden is light.” Matt
11:28-29
But
the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water
springing up into everlasting life.”
John 4:14
This
song was sung so beautifully at Charlie’s memorial.
So I throw up my hands
And praise You again and again
'Cause all that I have is a hallelujah
Hallelujah
And I know it's not much
But I've nothing else fit for a King
Except for a heart singing hallelujah
Hallelujah
I've
got one response
I've got just one move
With my arm stretched wide
I will worship You
No comments:
Post a Comment