Christian Hedonism - Pt 4

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. (2 Peter 1:5-10 ESV).

It is essential that we make a distinction between the absence of intense joy in Christ on the one hand, and the presence of intense joy in sin on the other. It is possible for our spiritual affections to weaken without this being the sign that our carnal affections are triumphant. Of course, we should be concerned with becoming cooled toward Christ, because that could lead to the destruction of our lives if we fail to confirm our calling and election (v. 10). But we should not assume that the cooling of our affections on any given day is the same as the flaming up of insubordinate rebellion against God and his ways. It could lead to that. But it need not. In God’s mind, fervency, zeal, or passion aren’t descriptions of how emotive we are. They’re gauges that display what our heart treasures, and therefore what fuels our lives. Just like God is far more impressed by sincere prayers in secret than longwinded public prayers (cf. Matthew 6:5-6), he is far more impressed (or not) by what truly enthralls us than by any outward emotional exhibition. For what enthralls us determines how we prioritize our lives. We’ve been living in our present home nearly three years. This is the first house I have had a dedicated space for my woodworking equipment to remain set up. I can walk out the door to the garage (the converted workshop) and begin working on a project immediately. Someone earlier in the week came by and saw me working on a specific project and asked, “Is this your therapy?” My first reaction was affirmation. However, as I began to think about it, that is a recipe for disaster. What if we were forced to do something different with the space; or, what if we no longer could afford that use of the space? The circumstances would change, and with that change my emotions would also change negatively. It is wonderful to have this convenience, but my happiness cannot be determined by such an outward circumstance. That means I simply need to change what I “treasure.” The same is true in our Christian lives. We do cool off in our passion; however, reignite your fervency through relationship, not experiences.