"Set Your Affection"

In both Mark 10:17-22 and Luke 18:18-23 we see an account of a young man who comes to Jesus to ask Jesus a question. The question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" After a little bit of back and forth which causes the young man to look beyond the question in a general sense but to pursue an answer in a personal way, Jesus says, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." But he was sad at this word, and went away grieved, for he had great possessions.

I was reading in 2 Corinthians and as I read 6:12 it reminded me of this young man and his encounter with Jesus. It said, "You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections." He went from this statement to his explanation about not being unequally yoked to unbelievers and the things of the world. He says, " And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God." To often those things have the ability to hold onto our affections. A few verses before making this statement about being restricted by their affections he was explaining to them about being new creations in Christ 5:17 and in 6:1 he said, "We then, as workers with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain."

This young man was restricted by his own affection for his riches. It says that he walked away sad because in that moment when he was put on the spot to make a choice about his things and his money verses treasure in heaven and following Jesus he made his choice and while it grieved him to do it, he became completely aware of what mattered most to him. We too should take a look at the things we spend our time thinking on. Do we spend it on the things above and as Paul said to the Corinthians next in 7:1, do we do what needs doing to 'perfect holiness' or do our affections restrict us from walking in such a way that we are pursuing Him in all our ways? Do we have areas of our walk with Him that are still restricted by affections?

In Colossians 3:2 it says to 'Set your affections on things above, not on the things on the earth." Affection means to exercise the mind, entertain or have sentiment or opinion; by implication to be mentally disposed (more or less earnestly in a certain direction) to interest oneself in and comes from a root word that has to do with ones feelings or sympathies for.

We as His people need to be like minded with Christ. We need to put His will and purposes ahead of the things that we have set our affections upon in the past. This young man came face to face with his affection and it prevented him from following Jesus. So the question remains. What has our affection. What do we spend our time thinking on. What were you thinking on before you started reading? What held your focus for the majority of the day? Was it God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Word, or related to the kingdom in any way or was it job, TV, a person, or money? Have we really set our affection on things above or are we restricted from walking in the fullness of God because something else has a place of affection in our hearts?