The Expulsive Power of a New Affection - Thomas Chalmers Quote
"It is seldom that any of our bad habits
or flaws disappear by a mere process of natural extinction at least it is very
seldom that this is done by the instrumentality of reasoning, or by the force
of mental determination,
But - what cannot be destroyed may be
dispossessed, and one taste may be made to give way to another and to lose its
power entirely as the reigning affection of the mind.
The boy, who ceases at length to be a slave to
his appetite does so because a more mature taste has brought it into
subordination. The young man may cease to idolize sensual pleasure, but it is
because the idol of wealth has gotten the ascendancy, so the love of money can
cast out the love of sloth. However, even the love of money can cease to have
mastery over the heart if it is drawn into the world of ideology and politics
and he is now lorded over by a love of power and moral superiority. But there
is not one of these transformations in which the heart is left without an
object.
The heart's desire for an ultimate object may
be conquered, but it's desire to have SOME object is unconquerable. The only
way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is through the expulsive power
of a new one.
It is therefore only when admitted into the
number of God's children through faith in Jesus Christ that the spirit of
adoption is poured out on us -- it is then that the heart, brought under the
mastery of one great, predominate, and supreme affection is delivered from the
tyranny of all its former desires and the only way that deliverance is
possible.
Therefore, it is not enough to hold out to your
people the mirror of their own imperfections. It is not enough to come forth
with a demonstration of the effanecent character of their enjoyments, or to
speak to their consciences of their follies.
Rather, make every legitimate method of finding
access to their hearts for the love of him who is greater than the world."
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