Desire can be a good thing!
You'd think we were Buddhists! In meditating, Buddhists often "vow to extinguish desire," believing that attachment to wants, cravings, and our will creates suffering. So many Christians I encounter in classes and retreats think it is wrong to have desires. In a misguided attempt to "deny themselves and follow [Christ]," they attempt to live a life with no desires and as a result lead passionless lives.
Contrast that with Scriptures which declare that God longs to "give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed." (Psalm 20:4) Now I'm not suggesting, with some Christians, that if you just follow God, you will soon be healthy, wealthy, and wise. After all, the Lord we follow was homeless and died a horrible death. But there are many references in Scripture that lead me to conclude with Augustine and Ignatius that our deepest authentic desires are God-given and reflect who we were created to be.
To this end, Ignatius has retreatants explore and ask for what they desire while making the Spiritual Exercises. In her book, Spiritual Direction: Beyond the Beginnings, author Janet Ruffing maintains that by praying for what we think we desire, we come to find out what we truly desire. In the beginning, some of the things we may ask of God don't reflect who we truly are in God. But as we examine and receive the things we think we desire, and find that some of those things have meaning for us and others don't, we find out more about who we are. Praying for what we think we desire helps us to sort things out until we find out what we truly desire. And as we find out our deepest authentic desires, we learn more about who we are, who we were created to be, and about the God who made us that way.
So let us live lives full of passion for Christ, desiring him whose desire for us led him through the cross and the tomb to an eternity where all may feast with him at the kingdom banquet. Let us, despite our sin, our dimness of sight, and our human frailty, petition Heaven with our desires until we come to know our deepest desires and our deepest selves and hence desire the one who made us thus.
Amen.
Contrast that with Scriptures which declare that God longs to "give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed." (Psalm 20:4) Now I'm not suggesting, with some Christians, that if you just follow God, you will soon be healthy, wealthy, and wise. After all, the Lord we follow was homeless and died a horrible death. But there are many references in Scripture that lead me to conclude with Augustine and Ignatius that our deepest authentic desires are God-given and reflect who we were created to be.
To this end, Ignatius has retreatants explore and ask for what they desire while making the Spiritual Exercises. In her book, Spiritual Direction: Beyond the Beginnings, author Janet Ruffing maintains that by praying for what we think we desire, we come to find out what we truly desire. In the beginning, some of the things we may ask of God don't reflect who we truly are in God. But as we examine and receive the things we think we desire, and find that some of those things have meaning for us and others don't, we find out more about who we are. Praying for what we think we desire helps us to sort things out until we find out what we truly desire. And as we find out our deepest authentic desires, we learn more about who we are, who we were created to be, and about the God who made us that way.
So let us live lives full of passion for Christ, desiring him whose desire for us led him through the cross and the tomb to an eternity where all may feast with him at the kingdom banquet. Let us, despite our sin, our dimness of sight, and our human frailty, petition Heaven with our desires until we come to know our deepest desires and our deepest selves and hence desire the one who made us thus.
Amen.
posted by Frank at 3:57 PM
2 Comments:
Beautifully put.
Read John Piper's Desiring God or go to his website:
desiringgod.org
Piper takes Jonathan Edwards to stunning vistas of joy in Christ.
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