Day 22: Godly Desire
We live in a world beset by conflicting desires. Around us swirls a veritable hurricane of forces, all competing not only for our attention but for our affections. Our wants are wanted. Why? Because friends, foes, and merchants all intuitively understand that the gateway to our actions lies not in our cool deliberation but in our passions. If we really desire something we will do what it takes to get it.
Desires for the things of God have compelled some to achieve near-superhuman feats in His service; the world has been transformed by the pure-hearted desires of God’s chosen few. Likewise, the untamed desires for that which is evil have desolated entire empires and, sadly, the promising futures of not a few who might otherwise have lived to good purpose. Pure-hearted desire pushes us past great obstacles, to enables us to persevere unto spiritual victory, while impure desire overrules our better judgment and whispers that we must yield to temptation. For all the education, all the experience, all the charisma, eloquence, wit, and advantages of family, wealth, and what the world might call sheer dumb luck, I haven’t seen anything that compares with the power of desire to make or break a human being—especially in the context of Christian life and ministry.
The Scriptures are full of admonitions and promises regarding our desires. As the people of God, we are not to consider our desires to be uncontrollable forces that impose their will upon us (insert the movie line about someone unexpectedly “falling in love” against their will, as one might fall into a pothole). No, we are the ones who must impose our will—our renewed, God-guided will—upon our desires. We must choose, because we cannot have both, and to refuse to choose is to make a choice anyway. Those who train their desires towards God will reap abundant peace now and eternal life hereafter; those who allow their desires to have free reign reap death.
Read: Matthew 5:6; Galatians 5:16-17; 1 Peter 2:2-12: 1 John 2:15-17
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I humble myself before you and confess that I have lusted over that which is not of you—my pride, my eyes, and my flesh. I surrender you my will and ask that you give me grace. I choose what pleases you as an act of my will, and I ask that you fill me and satisfy me with your desires.
By Dr. David Thomas, College of Ministry