Monday, April 07, 2008
Desire
Timothy McCone writing at CGO speaks of desire:
But there is a bottom line to this post that is fascinating - it is about passion. He is right that Christians are to be passionate people, alive with emotion, energy, enthusiasm. And yet, it seems those things lead us astray as often, or more often, than they are kept "properly ordered." Therefore, we need to subject them to our intellect and subject our intellect to prayer, scripture, and the Holy Spirit.
Desire is a funny thing, it supplies energy and enthusiasm, but it is so easily misdirected. I desire food, virtually all the time. If I acted on that desire, the results would not be pretty. As my Mother's senility advances, she cannot remember that she has eaten recently, and based on her desire, she eats again. In the months since my father's death, she has gained a tremendous amount of weight because her intellectual capacity is diminished to the point where her desire rules without check or balance.
Now, her, and my, desire is faulty. We both lack the capability to detect physical satiation; therefore, we always experience hunger. Sin is a lot like that. It gives us faulty desires.
As Christians, the Holy Spirit will bring us to a place where our desires will align with God's and we will experience the joy, energy and enthusiasm that goes with having our desires fulfilled, but it is a journey, and it is not a goal. No the goal is much simpler.
With my weight loss, my goal is not to fulfill my desire, but rather to bring my desire into alignment with reasonableness. I may never seek to have my desire fulfilled, for such will mislead me. So it is with our desires - we are sinful, yet saved. We seek only to have the Holy Spirit transform our desire - we must make that transformation our only desire - we must find our passion in the subjugation of our desire to Him.
The tension of the "already, not yet."
Technorati Tags:transformation, desire, energy, enthusiasm, hope, passion
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
Being a Christian is about wants. We are meant to be driven by passions, longings, desires, wants. There are plenty of religions and philosophies that glorify detached apathy in the world. Christianity is not one of them. Christ wants us moved by desires, but the desires must be ordered in the right direction.I find these words both frightening and encouraging. On the one hand they are steeped in the presumption that God can change me sufficiently so that my desires align with His. That is encouraging. On the other hand, as someone who has been around the block a few times, I am frightened by the vision, and experience, of way too many people acting on that presumption when the Holy Spirit has yet to create the reality.
Anselm of Canterbury prayed, "Lord, give me what you have made me want...Perfect what you have begun, and grant me what you have made me long for."
What do you want? What are you chasing after and striving for? What promises to satisfy you and justify your life, justify your sacrifice and struggle? Pursue it. Pursue it with Christ at your side, and let him show you how your desires can be properly ordered, and how what you want just might serve him.
But there is a bottom line to this post that is fascinating - it is about passion. He is right that Christians are to be passionate people, alive with emotion, energy, enthusiasm. And yet, it seems those things lead us astray as often, or more often, than they are kept "properly ordered." Therefore, we need to subject them to our intellect and subject our intellect to prayer, scripture, and the Holy Spirit.
Desire is a funny thing, it supplies energy and enthusiasm, but it is so easily misdirected. I desire food, virtually all the time. If I acted on that desire, the results would not be pretty. As my Mother's senility advances, she cannot remember that she has eaten recently, and based on her desire, she eats again. In the months since my father's death, she has gained a tremendous amount of weight because her intellectual capacity is diminished to the point where her desire rules without check or balance.
Now, her, and my, desire is faulty. We both lack the capability to detect physical satiation; therefore, we always experience hunger. Sin is a lot like that. It gives us faulty desires.
As Christians, the Holy Spirit will bring us to a place where our desires will align with God's and we will experience the joy, energy and enthusiasm that goes with having our desires fulfilled, but it is a journey, and it is not a goal. No the goal is much simpler.
With my weight loss, my goal is not to fulfill my desire, but rather to bring my desire into alignment with reasonableness. I may never seek to have my desire fulfilled, for such will mislead me. So it is with our desires - we are sinful, yet saved. We seek only to have the Holy Spirit transform our desire - we must make that transformation our only desire - we must find our passion in the subjugation of our desire to Him.
The tension of the "already, not yet."
Technorati Tags:transformation, desire, energy, enthusiasm, hope, passion
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
