What do you desire?
As we have been looking at Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians this Spring, it occurs to me that one problem of the Corinthian church is a problem of desire. Yes they knew and loved the Lord, but their hearts still desired the divisive debates of their culture; still desired the status of Roman cultic worship; still desired the pride in “superior” manifestations of the Spirit. Much of Paul’s letter could be seen, then, as an effort to reorient their (our?) desires, from that of the wisdom of the world to the wisdom of God which, as we’ve seen, is foolishness to the world. For the next three blog posts, we’ll take a look at our desires: 1) What do we desire? 2) Culturally Shaped Desires 3) Kingdom Shaped Desires.
This week, I invite you to take a few moments to ask yourself the following question: “What does my heart desire?” Put another way, “What do you love most of all?” Is it success, fame, or money? Is it to be a good parent, son, or daughter? Perhaps it is to change the world in some meaningful way? As Christians, we recognize that each of these desires can be good things, but they cannot be, for us, the ultimate thing. The ultimate desire of the Christian is God himself, who created us, loves us, and wants us to be in relationship with Him. Now, I suspect that most of us can articulate an answer similar to the one I just proposed. However, how much attention are we paying to routine practices of our lives that orient this desire?
Consider the athlete who trains countless hours for the once-every-four-years Olympic race. The daily activities of his life – what he eats, how often he sleeps, how he trains – not only help him achieve his desires but fan the flame of his heart’s desire to run an Olympic race. Along those lines, I propose this question: “How do the practices of our lives shape and direct the desires of our hearts?”
On one level, what we desire is an intellectual exercise – we think about and rationally consider our options and make a decision. However, a simple knowledge of desire is not enough to maintain the desire. Consider, again, the athlete. If his desire is Olympic gold but his practice is eating a package of Twinkies each day, he will not only fail in his endeavor but his desire for athletic success will actually be changed into a desire for junk food!
Now, when it comes to God, we recognize that practices themselves cannot earn for us what we desire (that is, what we do cannot put us in a right relationship with God). However, as Christians, our practices can fan the flame of this desire, or perhaps extinguish it. A follower of Jesus who has had her life changed by love and forgiveness develops a far deeper knowledge of this love when she is engaged in practices (including, and especially continued repentance) that orient her heart to Christ and His kingdom.
This is important because we live in a culture that continually invites us into practices that turn our hearts toward other desires: consumerism, hyper-sexuality, or even perfectionism. The bottom line is this: the things we do, the practices of our lives, not only reveal our ultimate desires but shape them. Thus, if we intend to desire God, we must take a close look at the practices that shape and challenge this desire, both inside and outside of the church.