Monday, October 24, 2005
Ending Desire And Finding Happiness In Christ
The subject of Christian happiness came up yesterday. The point was being made that being a Christian does not mean giving up "your desires." As the conversation continued, it was clear that much of the discussion gets heavily semantic and I don't want to get too deep into it, but I do want to respond to this quote from C.S. Lewis' The Weight of Glory that was thrown in my face.
This quote does not attempt to say that what we need is to intensify desire somehow. What it says is that we desire "weak" things instead of the "strong" things of God. Desire is not the issue, what we desire is the issue.
Our fallen nature is, as usual, at the heart of the matter. Besides, my desire for weak things is, in fact, a very strong desire, else it would not be much of a temptation. Nope, the work of the Holy Spirit here is not to intensify our desires, it is to reshape them, and then to intensify them.
This all came up in the context of how to find happiness as a Christian and it presumes that unhappiness is the result of unfulfilled desire. I disagree, happiness is the result of learning to delight in God - there it begins and there it ends. Thus unhappiness is simply a result on being unregenerant. I suppose one could argue that this is a reflection of the fact that we desire God most of all, and that is the unfulfilled desire.
I am not so sure about that - because I do not think that my relationship with God is about making me whole. It's about God, and God only. It's about lacking desire, not fulfilling it. Again, it could be argued that desire is lacked because it has been fulfilled, but then it is just circular. No, I think I find happiness in sacrificing desire to God - in sacrificing all to God. I am happy because of Him. I am happy because He gives me happiness.
Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.I understand the point that Lewis is making here, but to throw this up and say it means that "God wants us to have our desires" is disingenuous and not faithful to the sense in which Lewis meant the quote.
This quote does not attempt to say that what we need is to intensify desire somehow. What it says is that we desire "weak" things instead of the "strong" things of God. Desire is not the issue, what we desire is the issue.
Our fallen nature is, as usual, at the heart of the matter. Besides, my desire for weak things is, in fact, a very strong desire, else it would not be much of a temptation. Nope, the work of the Holy Spirit here is not to intensify our desires, it is to reshape them, and then to intensify them.
This all came up in the context of how to find happiness as a Christian and it presumes that unhappiness is the result of unfulfilled desire. I disagree, happiness is the result of learning to delight in God - there it begins and there it ends. Thus unhappiness is simply a result on being unregenerant. I suppose one could argue that this is a reflection of the fact that we desire God most of all, and that is the unfulfilled desire.
I am not so sure about that - because I do not think that my relationship with God is about making me whole. It's about God, and God only. It's about lacking desire, not fulfilling it. Again, it could be argued that desire is lacked because it has been fulfilled, but then it is just circular. No, I think I find happiness in sacrificing desire to God - in sacrificing all to God. I am happy because of Him. I am happy because He gives me happiness.
