Lewis explains that most students need the affective message more than the directive one: For every one pupil who needs to be guarded against a weak excess of sensibility there are three who need to be awakened from the slumber of cold vulgarity. The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts. The right defence against false sentiments is to inculcate just sentiments. By starving the sensibility of our pupils we only make them easier prey to the propagandist when he comes. 

Recently I was driving through another state for a speaking engagement when I noticed a road sign with a rather smart message. “Littering is unlAwful!” is stated. The “unl” of unlawful was really small so that the message really read “Littering is Awful.” This state regulated sign is doing more than communicating a law. It’s seeking to form the affections of its readers.
The sign doesn’t aim to merely help people realize that it’s illegal to throw trash out of their car window on the interstate. It attempts to shape the way people feel about using creation as a giant trash can. It’s just awful. It’s one thing to regulate practice. It’s another entirely to form the affections.
This approach is deeply philosophical.
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So many leaders in our churches today are so spiritually dead and morally bankrupt that they actually believe that strobe lights, smoke machines and ‘party, party, party’ is what we must now rely on to get folks in and build up the church. Good grief.

For some decades now I had a standard line about the decaying church surrendering to the surrounding culture, especially on things like homosexuality. I would often say this: ‘We might as well just give it all up and turn our churches into discos’ – or words to that effect.
I of course had in mind selling off empty church buildings. I did not think for a moment that folks might start taking my words to heart. I certainly did not think folks would do this to churches while they were still considered to be churches! But that now seems to be happening, and I guess nothing should surprise us anymore.
Churches used as discos? Yes, you heard me right. A friend in the UK just sent me this news item from the BBC, featuring this headline: “Canterbury disco: ‘Parties can get more people to visit church’.” The piece opens with these words:
When you think of a church or cathedral, the thing that might come to mind is it being a place and time for self-reflection. But lately there have been a series of silent discos taking place in cathedrals and historic buildings around the UK and Europe. “I love the idea of people dancing on a Saturday night and praying on a Sunday morning. I think we can do both,” the Reverend Jessica Fellows tells BBC Newsbeat.
The “disco-loving” vicar is a self-proclaimed Harry Styles fan who uses her church to organise silent discos as well as beer and carols events. “The more the merrier. We need people to come in and have fun – it’s not all boring and serious,” she says. She hopes these events can result in greater interest in religion, at a time of less interest.
In the 2021 census for England and Wales, a third of people under the age of 35 identified as Christian, compared to just under half of those under 35 in 2011. Church of England figures also suggest dwindling congregation numbers, with 2022 having an average weekly attendance of 654,000 people – up from 2021 but down from 854,000 people in 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-68279198
Oh dear. Discos to get more people in. Now why didn’t the disciples and those in the early church do things like that? Oh yeah, that’s right: they did not need to. They simply relied on faithfully preaching the gospel and trusting the Holy Spirit to do his work. So they didn’t do anything to ‘get people in.’
But so many leaders in our churches today are so spiritually dead and morally bankrupt that they actually believe that strobe lights, smoke machines and ‘party, party, party’ is what we must now rely on to get folks in and build up the church. Good grief.
The article goes on to say this:
The Reverend Michael Darkins from Hythe, just down the road from Canterbury, has put on concerts at his church as well as Warhammer game nights. “We’ve got this beautiful 11th century church… we’re known locally for our collection of 1,200 skulls in the crypt – so it’s the perfect aesthetic for that.”
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There is a purpose in painful situations. It is not a waste of emotions and feelings. God is working in our painful experiences. If we subscribe to the notions of false preachers who purport that saints cannot and should not go through tough times, we shall rob ourselves of the opportunity to know God in ways only painful moments can afford. 

Life consists of many seasons: birth, growth, education, work, graduation, and death. Feelings and experiences often beyond our control are spread out between those seasons. Firstly, we have the experiences of happiness that come from events around us, which cause us much gladness. We all want to be caught up in endless days of joy, happiness, and gladness because, as they say, a merry heart is a good medicine (Proverbs 17:22). Secondly, we have experiences of pain caused by sickness, traumas of life, and death. We naturally do not want to be in a state of pain for long because pain crushes the spirit and deprives us of the joy of life. We, to a great extent, may not have control of these circumstances; however, we can choose to learn from them and become who God is preparing us to be through it all.
So, why should we seek to face pains in our lives rather than avoiding them?
Pain Builds Perseverance
Our pain is not a waste of feelings because God uses it to develop in us a heart of perseverance (the ability to withstand pressure during tough times). Good times do not give the human heart mental strength and tenacity like painful times. In the pains of life, we stretch our mental muscles, training them to be resilient and forge forward, especially in times of adversity. James 1:2-4 reminds us to count it all joy when we meet trials of every kind. Why? Because it produces a critical growth path for us – we become complete and lack in nothing. Also, James says that at the end of perseverance is an eternal inheritance – the crown of life (James 1:12). Paul reiterates this thought in Romans 5:3-5 in his appeal to the Romans. Most objectively, pain builds our character and hope. Athletes who beat their bodies through pain exhibit more discipline and perform much better in the races than those who lazied themselves in basic training without physical challenge. That is what the mind of one who runs away from pain will become – unfit for the pressures of life awaiting. Don’t run!
Pain is Seasonal and Purposeful
Secondly, we need not avoid pain because the truth is that pain is not eternal but seasonal. That means it comes and goes. In this world, scripture reminds us there is time for everything under the sun (Eccl. 3:1-8). Knowing that pain will not always be there lets us learn from it when it comes, allowing us to depend on God for strength for that season. The Psalmist says that even in the valley of the shadow of death, the good Shepherd is there with us. And just as every season has its purpose, Paul points out that the purpose of afflictions and pain is to renew our inner man (2 Cor. 4:16) while it prepares for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (2 Cor. 4:17-18). The other purpose pain has is helping us to focus on the things eternal and not things tertiary and temporary. In Jeremiah 29:11, one of the most misquoted and misapplied scriptures, God reached out to his people, Israel, while they were in captivity under cruel masters and reminded them of his plan. Though the time for their freedom was 70 years to come, God told them that their captivity and slavery were within his plan to accomplish his purpose. He knew his plans were for their ultimate good, not evil. Don’t run!
Pain is a Sanctifying Tool in God’s Hands
Sanctification is the process God uses to make the believer more and more into the person of Christ. It means to purify and make whole. In 2 Cor. 12:1-10, Paul shares his incredible experience with the Lord and how he used infirmity to teach him humility – a character quality we must all have to represent Christ effectively (Philippians 2:1-11).
In addition to this example, scripture is replete with the stories of people who endured suffering and pain as God molded them into the people he wanted them to be. Think about Job, who learned to trust God through the darkest patches of life, refrained from cursing God (Job 2:9), avoided talking ill of him, and praised him in the storm.
God also sends sufferings and trials to help us build positive Christian character, weaning us from sin. According to James, various trials produce perseverance, making us mature, complete, and lacking nothing (James 1:2-4). The one who learns to focus on God in times of pain will find these moments as a catapult in the hands of God, ready to plunge them into deeper levels of relationship and growth in the Lord.
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