The Desires of Your Heart
You can tell a lot about a person by what they desire.
Probably most of us have imbibed the ascetic notion of Buddhism that desire is the source of most human suffering. If we could just free ourselves from all desire we would find true contentment and happiness. Desire at its root is viewed in the negative- as something to be done away with.
This is not the Biblical notion of desire. To be sure, desire can be fleshly- but it can also be rooted in the spirit. It’s not the fact of desire that is wrong- it’s the object of desire that determines its worth.
In a Sermon entitled The Weight of glory, C.S. Lewis wrestles with this truth:
“If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not to strong, but to weak.
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.”
Lewis has hit on something here! God is not offended by our strong desires- He created them. He is only offended at how we use them.
It is important we ask ourselves a very difficult question and face the answer truthfully: What is it I really desire in life? My own pleasure or God’s glory? If we seek God’s glory He says to us: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart!”
When facing the issue concerning Church oversight, it is not the fact of the desire to lead that is wrong- the question to be answered is the why. Why be a Bishop? For my own advancement or for the glory of God? The why makes all the difference!
“…if anyone aspires to the office of overseer it is a noble work he aspires to do.” I Timothy 3:1
Because of grace,
Tim
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