Holy affections
Edwards and the awakening
A New England meetinghouse in the 1740s is shaking with feeling. Under the preaching, people weep, cry out, tremble, some collapse in the pews. And near the front, a careful pastor-theologian named Jonathan Edwards watches it all and asks the question that will reorient a generation: which of these stirrings is actually real? Is this the Spirit, or is it merely the contagion of an excited crowd? His answer threaded a needle the church keeps fumbling. True religion, Edwards concluded, consists largely in holy affections, the heart genuinely moved toward God, but moved is not the same as merely stirred. He would not let anyone trust the tears alone, and he would not let anyone dismiss them either. The real thing is neither cold doctrine nor hot emotion but the two fused: a love and joy in God so true it reshapes the will and shows up in a changed life. Peter had described it, a love for the unseen Christ and a joy unspeakable and full of glory. Reorientation, at its truest, is not frozen belief or fleeting feeling. It is the whole person, heart and soul and mind together, turned toward God, the affections genuinely warmed and anchored in truth and proven over time by their fruit.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
— Jesus — Matthew 22:37 (WEB)
“Whom not having seen you love; in whom, though now you don't see him, you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
Reorientation at its truest is neither cold belief nor hot feeling, but both fused: the whole person turned toward God. This phase asks for holy affections, the heart genuinely moved and anchored in truth. Here it means loving God with heart and soul and mind together, and testing every stirring by the fruit it actually bears.
You probably lean one of two ways with feeling in your faith, and both are traps. Either you distrust it, because feeling can deceive and you have watched it deceive others, so you settle for a dry, careful belief that costs your heart nothing. Or you chase it, because the stirring feels like life, until the pursuit of the feeling quietly becomes its own small idol. Edwards charts the path between them: holy affections, the heart genuinely moved toward God, fused with truth and tested by fruit. So the question to put to your own soul is layered. Not merely do I believe the right things, though that matters.
Not merely did I feel something on Sunday, though that may be real. But this: are my love and joy in God genuine enough to reshape what I do on Monday? Affection that changes nothing is suspect, and so is correctness that warms nothing. Love Him with heart and soul and mind together, the whole person turned, and then watch the fruit. The fruit is how you tell the holy affection from the passing one.
The Church swings between dead orthodoxy and shallow excitement, and watching a revival shake a generation, Edwards recovered the union neither extreme can hold. True religion, he concluded, consists largely in holy affections, the heart genuinely moved toward God, yet moved is not the same as merely stirred. He would not let the Body trust the tears alone, nor dismiss them either. The real thing is neither cold doctrine nor hot emotion but the two fused: a love and joy in God true enough to reshape the will and prove itself over time. When whole movements pursue this fusion, refusing both frozen belief and fleeting feeling, the Body loves God with heart and soul and mind together, and learns to test its every stirring honestly by the fruit it leaves behind.
Stirrings come and go, and even the warmest affection cools and rekindles. What cannot be shaken is the God these affections reach for, worthy of a love that holds when the feeling fades. The emotion is not the anchor; He is. When the trembling subsides and the meetinghouse empties, the One who drew the heart remains.
- Do I distrust feeling in my faith, or chase it, and what is each habit costing me?
- Are my love and joy in God real enough to reshape what I actually do?
- When I test my stirrings by their fruit, what do I honestly find?
Lord, I have either feared my feelings or chased them. Give me instead a heart truly moved toward You, anchored in truth and proven in how I live. Let me love You with heart and soul and mind together, and reshape my will and not only my mood. Amen.