Affection is one of those words that I thought I understood the definition of, but while reading through these verses I decided that I needed to take another look at it. I pulled out two out of the nine definitions found on dictionary.com:
1. fond attachment, devotion, or love.
8. bent or disposition of mind.
With these two definitions I was able to pull out of these scriptures that we're not so much suppose to have strong uncontrollable feelings as much as natural pulls within ourselves. It is a way to assess how we're doing and what areas we need to work on. I personally hate it when people say to me "you should feel this way", but God does it all the time. In the case of scriptures that have to do with "affection" changing how we feel is what it is all about.
10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
Or in other words we should be inclined to think of and care about each other. If we aren't inclined towards service or think too much of ourselves, that is a red flag for something we need to work on.
These scriptures also talk about not having "natural affection" which in Romans 1:26-27 is defined at having homosexual relationship. I don't really want to go into this as much as sharing another insight into being without natural affection.
All growing up I thought about my dream guy. He would be smart, good looking, philosophical, and a host of other great qualities. However, I did not put on that list "kind." I did not think it was that important to list, kind of like a given or something we could work towards. Two serious relationships later I found myself emotionally drained and heartbroken. Where did I go wrong? While flipping through my scriptures I found this one on natural affection and realized that it applied to me. I had met some great guys who met almost all my requirements, but they were lacking the affection that should have naturally been there. This is something important to think about for anyone entering a relationship and something to keep in mind if that relationship becomes abusive.
When I wake up in the morning I am inclined or "bent" to stay in bed and sleep all day. But I am also "bent" towards frying an egg for my husband because I know he likes them. In some areas I'm doing better than others and figuring out where my affections are directed is a good places to start in seeing how aligned I am to God's will.
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