The affection of Christ

So I am still reading Second Guessing God and found another cool thing that I wanted to post!

“Jesus allows us to be broken so we can feel what others feel and so we can have credibility in their eyes. He does not stop with our brokenness, though. Once we are broken, God fills our emptiness with something powerful.” – Brian Jones, Second Guessing God

I love the sentence, God fills our emptiness with something powerful! Going through hardships and reaching those darkest moments in our life are painful but just think that if God did not break us, he would not be able to bring something amazing and powerful from Him into our life! I know that if God did not allow me to go through depression and panic attacks then I would not have got involved in Campus Fellowship at Drake and I would not have gone to bible study in Herriot! I would have been out partying and trying to "live it up" as much as possible! But because he allowed me to go through this harship I am now much closer to my Savior and I have seen how more of who He is and how much he loves me and his affection for me!

The Affection of Christ is one of the topics in the book I am reading.

Philippians 1:8 “God can testify of how I long for you with the affection of Christ Jesus.”
Paul is writing to the Philippians and of how much he misses them and how he not only has affection for them, but the affection of Jesus!

What is Affection?

- Comes from Greek word splanchma which means guts
- Literally describes the chest cavity, lung, heart, vessels
- Figuratively describes the love someone has for a person in need

Think about watching a movie when your chest gets really tight, and you choke up over the pain someone is feeling = this is overwhelming compassion (splanchma)

*Paul said he had the affection of Jesus

**Christians should pray to have the affection of Jesus Christ

What does Jesus affection look like in his ministry?

Mark 6:34 “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion [splanchma] on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”

Luke 7:13 When Jesus saw a woman who had lost both her husband and only son, “his heart went out to her [splanchma] and he said, ‘Don’t cry’.”

Luke 15:20 “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion [splanchma] for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” – Prodigal son

The Lord feels this for all of us! And the awesome thing is that our savior doesn't just feel affection for his children, but he acts on it by reaching out to the lost, desiring a relationship with us, and desiring to bless us and love us!