I've been reading Bryan Chapell's book on prayer, Praying Backwards, and in a recent chapter stumbled upon a powerful illustration. Chapell was explaining how when a person is first given the Holy Spirit and they become a Christian, their affections change. Thus, they no longer lust after the world but they long for their Saviour. But see how Chapell illustrates this:
It is as though, after years of possessing only a black-and-white TV, a generous relative provides us a new high-definition color console. Suddenly the entertainment that appealed to us for so long loses its allure. We desire that which fills our senses with greater sound and color - and seems more real. Of course, if we wander away from the HD-TV and pass by the room that holds the black-and-white, it may still draw us in and even mesmerize us for a time with its old images. But it no longer has the appeal for us and the power over us that it once did. Our desires have shifted because we have experienced something better.
The believer discovers that life with Christ is better than the empty and colorless pursuit of the world's pleasures. Walking with him, loving him, and loving all that he loves now fulfill us and give our world its color. Old pursuits can still beckon us when we wander from him, but they will never fulfill us as they once did. Our hearts have been forever changed. As a result, the things of the world do not have the power over us that they once had and our prayers reflect more and more the priorities of the One we treasure. We become less selfish, less concerned for personal gain, and more eager to be used for and fulfilled by God's purposes. Jesus' glory becomes the priority of our prayers because we love him above all and most desire that he be honored and pleased.
(Taken from Bryan Chapell's Praying Backwards, pgs. 76-77)
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