Affections

(i assume my audience to be Bible-believing Christians for this post)

Conventionally, people call today either Valentine's Day or Single Awareness Day. Couples who are married or dating have surely spent a great amount of effort anticipating and planning for tonight's _______. (date, romantic experience, make-up time, festivities.... whatever have you) On the other hand, godly single men and women out there who believe that they do not possess the gift of singleness are perhaps praying earnestly for God to not only strengthen that very conviction, but to manifest that conviction into sight by means of what we called, the one. Well, whether you are dating or not, no one knows for sure that they do NOT have the gift of singleness until his and her wedding day. So, if you are dating, keep at it and may the Lord sanctify the two of you in preparation for your marriage if it be His will. If you are not married/dating, don't be discouraged. Think about it this way: the fact that you DON'T have the gift of singleness will be verified on your wedding day... on the flip side... you don't have to worry about this too much because you will never know for sure that you DO have the gift of singleness until you die. And when that happens, you won't even be thinking about singleness cuz you'll be in glory!!

Speaking of affections, I must mention what I've experienced recently at Grace Community Church. If you go to GCC or know anything about it, you understand our church to be one of the strongest conservative-evangelical-Bible-believing-Bible-preaching-megachurches in the U.S. At GCC, "the Truth is everything," as our pastor would say, and there is absolutely no room for compromising the soul-saving truths of the holy Word of God. For this reason, we the Bruins of Grace On Campus UCLA have come to learn to wield the Sword of God offensively and defensively with all the resources God has given to us through the teaching at GCC. we have worked hard at our Extra-Jesus... oops i mean, exegesis!! we have gotten used to quoting Scripture to enhance our prayers, we have perfected the skill of reciting verses while we share the Gospel, we are even convicted about the importance of spedning personal quiet time with the Lord in the Word. Praise God, the authority of His Word is upheld at GOC and GCC.

However.... in my 11 quarters at GOC, I have heard relatively few discussions and expressions on our affection for the Word. By this I mean that at least within the student circles of GOC, believers' love for God's Word is not often articulated. Sadly, my heart also infrequently tells me of its affection for the words by which the brain has been excited of. Loving Bible-study and the process of exegesis is NOT equivalent to loving the Word! "Oh man, you know what deep theological concept I just understood after 6 hours of exegesis? I love it!" what is "it?" Is it the theology or the Savior? When was the last time your heart shouted out to you after drenching itself in truth for a period of time, "I LOVE the Jesus Christ MY Savior!!" A true love for God must be fueled by Truth; a true love for Truth will reflect its affections for the Author of the Truth.

consider our pastor, John MacArthur. Lots of Christians in America love him, lots of Christians hate him. Listen to MacArthur for 5 minutes or read 5 pages from any of his books and his strong conviction and almost stubbornness for adhering to the Truth will not escape your notice. He is a warrior on the pulpit. John not only spent his whole life guarding the truth of the Bible, but he attacks un-truthfulness from the pulpit. Not many preachers have the guts or the skin to do that. To be honest, you might not think he's the nicest person if you just seem him preaching, because he absolutely loses himself when he preaches. But I think he is an affectionate person. How do I know this? Well, first, I go to evening service. I really enjoy evening service (sometimes more than morning. sometimes. I believe Sunday morning services have a special place in the Bible). I love going to evening service for the baptisms and the testimonies and I love hearing pastor John share his heart. Surprisingly, he is a lot more open during evening service concerning his ministry convictions, his view on current events, and with his personal walk with the Lord. He does not merely reference the Truth with a roaring shout, but also with a very tender and mature affection for the Word. He once told the evening congregation of his ministry goal and summarized it to be something along the lines of: "loving the written Word as loving the Incarnate Word, since they are One in the same." To be honest, although I've heard these words before, it almost surprised me to hear it from John MacArthur. But now I understand, the reason his ministry in the Word is so powerful and oftentimes uncomfortable is because of his affections towards his Savior. Interesting. If you want to know John more, go to evening service. yes, this has been a public exhortation for people to go to evening service. :)

secondly, everyone who knows John MacArthur personally, whether they be pastors, family members, missionaries, church members, has vouched for his affection towards people. He is considered and respected to be one of the nicest people around when he's off the pulpit. I just had an endearing semi-personal encounter with him a few weeks ago. Thanks to my brothers Mitchell and Ed and their sacrifice, I was able to sit right next to John MacArthur during morning service on the first-row pew. Those seats are normally reserved for pastors, elders, or Mrs. MacArthur... but on that day, it was for Beland Huang. I must say, even in his few words of appreciation to me for sitting next to him and being his pal for the day, I was impressed with his kindness and good sense of humor. I think a Christian can only be truly affectionate to one another if we are affectionate to the Lord. I've heard pastor John preach for roughly 220 hours ever since I came to college, and I see a mature affection for the Lord even in his most fiery sermons.

To conclude this post, I would like to present to you some facts about the English language. Almost all of us have read at least a few of Shakespeare's plays, and most of us enjoy singing praises out of the good 'ol hymnal. If you have been paying attention to any of the words at all, you will inevitably notice the usages of that antiquated 2nd person singular pronoun: Thou, Thy, Thine, and Thee. Some of us don't particularly enjoy singing songs with these words precisely for that reason. But let me remind you, that Thou, Thy, Thine and Thee, in pre-modern English was the set of pronouns one would use for close friends and companions. In fact, if you were referred to as "You, Your, You," then your relationship with the one who has called you is probably still distant. more distant than the one who is called, "Thou." Somehow, the English language as we know it today has retained to royal "you, your, you."

But in light of today's post on affection, the next time you are standing in God's house singing those old words, do not be afraid to consciously sing phrases like "I love thee" with an extra bit of affection in your voice.


"How sweet are Your words to my taste!
Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"
-Psalm 119:103