Why it is that when I think of the word “desire”, I automatically begin to think about it in a bad way? I think about all the bad stuff I have wanted to do. Or I think about all the material stuff I want. Desire gets reduced to scratching the itch of the moment instead of feasting on the bounty of eternity.
Recently, I am starting to believe that my biggest problem is not that my desire is too strong but too weak. My desires are misdirected. My desire is my desire not God's desire for me. Sometimes people think that God wants to keep us from having our desires when ultimately He is the best desire. God wants to refine our desires to crave what will truly satisfy. It's not about denying our desires or suppressing them. Instead, the only way to deal with them is to give them to God and let Him change us. By trying to suppress or fulfill our desires, we ultimately are getting in the way of our happiness and eternal destiny.
Psalm 34:8 (NIV): Taste and see that the LORD is good blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
"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." -
C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." - C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Oh God, I don't want my desire any more. All my desire I lay before Your feet. Make my heart beat for You. May I thirst for You and find all my desires fulfilled in You. Refine me, cleanse me, help me discover the life You made me to live. May I live out of this world and in Your arms. Give me faith to believe Your words and a heart big enough to receive Your love. Amen!
