Great Quote
The goal of the Christian life is not external conformity or mindless
action, but a passionate love for God informed by the mind and embraced
by the will. So the path forward is not to decrease one’s affections but rather
to enlarge them and fill them with “heavenly things.” Here one is not trying
to escape the painful realities of this life but rather endeavoring to reframe
one’s perspective of life around a much larger canvas that encompasses all of
reality. To respond to the distorting nature of sin you must set your affections
on the beauty and glory of God, the loveliness of Christ, and the wonder of
the gospel: “Were our affections filled, taken up, and possessed with these
things . . . what access could sin, with its painted pleasures, with its sugared
poisons, with its envenomed baits, have unto our souls?” Resisting sin,
according to this Puritan divine, comes not by deadening your affections but
by awakening them to God himself. Do not seek to empty your cup as a way
to avoid sin, but rather seek to fill it up with the Spirit of life, so there is no
longer room for sin. - Kelly Kapic (Preface to "Overcoming Sin & Temptation"
by John Owen)