Driven by desire …

Whether it’s rummaging through the refrigerator for something to eat, spending hours trying on clothes for something to buy, or flirting with that girl or guy we can’t seem to stop thinking about, we human beings are more driven by our desires than we’re usually consciously aware of.

So let’s take a quick survey of this thing called “desire”:

What is desire? Desire in scripture usually means “to long for.” Simply put, to desire is to want. A desire may be as simple as wanting a drink of water when we’re thirsty, or something strong enough to push us to great measures, such as this story from “Usain Bolt: An Unauthorized Biography” by Belmont and Belcourt Biographies:

It took less than ten seconds for Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt to cover the one hundred meter distance on the Olympic track and win the gold medal in London. Those few seconds cemented his status as the ‘fastest man alive’ and placed him on the winner’s podium once again. But the race was not won in those seconds — it was won by hours and hours of practice, workouts, weightlifting, special diet, and coaching.

The race was not won in the performance but in the preparation. It is our desire for something greater that causes us to sacrifice some things, even some good things, for the sake of things that are better.

Where do our desires come from? Our innermost being. For example, Psalm 37:4 refers to our “heart’s desires.” Key to that is, which heart? Let me explain further …

Jesus revealed to us, “For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander,” (Mt. 15:19) and then, “…It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you” (Mk. 7:20-23).

One commentator noted, “Sin does not just come about as a result of outside forces. It is borne from those hidden little niches residing in our thoughts and intentions, from the secret desires that only the mind and heart can envision. The bottom line is that, in our fallen state, the desires of our hearts do not come from God. Jeremiah further confirms the nature of man’s heart: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer.17:9).

So the desires that spring from a sinful heart and untransformed mind are the “desires of the flesh” that lead us to sin. The same commentator also noted:

“Fortunately, God does not abandon us in our struggles with hurtful desires and sinful tendencies. Instead, He provides us the grace and strength we need to resist and overcome sin when it crouches at the door of our hearts … we see that God can literally plant His own desires into the heart of man, the heart that, without Him, is desperately wicked and deceitful. He replaces the evil with good and sets our hearts on the path toward Him, removing our own desires and replacing them with His. This only happens when we come to Him in repentance and accept the gift of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. At that point, He removes our hearts of stone and replaces them with hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19). He accomplishes this by the supernatural implanting of His Spirit into our hearts. Then our desires become His desires, our wills seek to do His will, and our rebellion turns to joyous obedience.”

What does the Bible say about desire? A lot! Following is just a tiny sampling of the scriptures that, in some way, touch on desire:

“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman,” Job 31:1.

“As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God,” Psalm 42:1.

“Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be,” Matthew 6:21.

“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure,” 1 Corinthians 10:13.

“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love,” Galatians 5:13.

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh,” Galatians 5:16 (NIV).

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry,” Colossians 3:5 (NIV).

“For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows,” 1 Timothy 6:10.

“You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it,” James 4:2.

“And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires,” 2 Peter 1:4.

“For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever,” 1 John 2:16-17.

What are your desires? What does that reveal about the source of your desires?

Scotty