Desire

When I became a Christian, I was eleven years old. I did not do much thinking about it. I did not even have much of a clue about what it meant. I knew I loved God; he was a central part of my extended family. I knew there was a right and wrong way to live, but where I lived between the two was always blurry and sometimes murky. In the beginning, I wanted to please my parents more than I wanted to please God. I also feared my earthly father more than my Heavenly Father.

I knew pretty clearly what my parents expected of me but struggled with complying, preferring what I wanted and did not want. Often the desire for what I wanted was so strong that I could not sense what was pleasing to my parents, let alone God. All I could do was follow the overpowering desire. The long-term effects of the desire could not be measured at that moment. Nothing mattered but fulfilling that desire. I was addicted to pleasing myself.

Many trips to the proverbial woodshed instilled in me more of a tactic to use more devious and discrete methods to fulfilling my desires. Now seventy-plus years into practicing life, I have done a pretty fair job at developing the skills of self and public deception in fulfilling my desires.

I also have a keen sense that every person around me has developed the same skills. My cosmic neighbors and I have grouped ourselves in tribes of like-minded desire chasers. We like to be around people who make us feel accepted, safe, and valuable. But, conversely, no one wants to be around a person or tribe who makes us see our preferred desires for what they are, rebellion against the “image” each human was created to bear.

There is an old Swedish proverb, “lika barn leka bäst.” English reads, “children that are similar to playing the best [together].” In our contemporary political environment, that proverb could read, “Politicians that are similar rule best (together).” And that exposes the underbelly of the cursed way of living. As people focus on their desires to be distinguished from their acceptable companions, their tribe gets smaller and smaller. At some point, the individual stands alone, declaring that their desires are what is best for the whole of their kind. They will eventually stand before their social sacrificial alter, asserting their isolating superiority.

The intensity of the feeling of their desire is the more significant part of the driving force of change, or resistance to change, in humans and humanity. So, the more I focus on what I want, the more what you want is in my way.

The birth of this blog idea came last week. I was ferrying my grandkids, and they began to sing the chorus of a Backstreet Boys song, “You are my fire, the one desire, believe when I say, I want it that way.” I laughed as they sang. It was worth the interruption of my life to experience that moment.

When I was their age, it was Ricky Nelson singing “My One Desire.” Of course, a lot has changed in the years between “The Boys” and Ricky, but one thing remains constant, the power of the boyfriend/girlfriend relationship desire. That one desire makes fools of us all at one time or another.

To the extent that a human thoughtfully picks their driving desires, that person will benefit society. But, conversely, chasing after inferior desires will always end in social rot.

What we desire today determines whom we become tomorrow. Never choose your desires by your feelings. Feelings are just that, feelings; they are not truth. They are oscillating distortions of your intended self.

You and I, every human, were created through the glorious desire of Yahweh. He desired you! And he desires you to desire Him with the same intensity. When we get our desire right, life has a way of becoming a reflection of Yahweh’s goodness. To the extent our desires differ from Yahweh’s, we will experience frustration and fatigue.

I leave you with two verses of Scripture for meditation which have guided Yahweh’s people for centuries:

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Psalms 37:4 CSB

Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life. Proverbs 4:23 (CSB)

Photo – One of my bowls.