What Do You Want?
Let’s take a deep dive into our desires and their origins.
There's often a lot of confusion between desire and sin, but it’s in our human nature to long for things. A lot of our longings aren't evil, but instead, they’re suppressed because we’re not honest about them. We act out of desire, and when we don't know what we're longing for, we sometimes settle for insufficient alternatives.
“Our deepest desires include deep connection, beauty, and goodness that God has built for us.”
It’s important to know what we want and to be able to articulate it. It often feels like a lot of our desires lead to sin, but most are deeply from God. There are longings that God knitted into our souls. If we never explore those, then we'll keep making bad decisions because we want what's right in front of us. But as we mature and nurture our spiritual and mental health, our desires become clear to us. We’ll know what is true about our souls, and therefore know exactly what we’re craving.
For example, when your desires become clearer, you realize that you're not craving money, but you're actually craving security.
When your desires become clearer, you realize that you're not craving money, but you're actually craving security.
We are prone to go after the wrong things because we don’t realize what we long for. It’s important to know that the desire in itself isn't wrong.
Awareness of what we want and not being afraid of what we want is crucial to our growth.
We can begin by taking notice of what we desire, even though it can be hard to figure out. Ultimately, the hope is that we would understand that God has knit our desires into us. It’s crucial to prioritize how God wants us to meet that desire instead of looking at how the world is tempting us.
Trying to meet our desires with things of the flesh will fail us every time.
We have amazing, noble qualities growing within us:
knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness, and love.
These qualities allow us to do what God has called us to do. They're going to keep you from being ineffective or unproductive. Rather, they’ll propel you forward.
These are traits we can’t manufacture out of thin air; it’s the Spirit causing them to grow within us. While these are spiritual fruits, an effort is also required on our part.
The Spirit produces fruit when you abide.
You don’t produce goodness or kindness on your own in your life.
Instead, you prioritize abiding and setting your mind on the Spirit. When you do that, these things will take root in your life.
There is a forgetfulness of our reality and identity that shifts the potential in our lives. We sometimes forget that God has cleansed us from our past sins. He laid the groundwork for us to do the things He's called us to do. When we forget or completely ignore God’s grace, mercy, and goodness in our lives, we rest in our own strength. This makes us nearsighted and blind.
You'll continue to spiral, spin, and feel stuck if you’re the end of your affection. All these things that you're going to experience when you have a relationship with God take effort. However, these qualities gifted to us by the Spirit are byproducts of each other. Faith leads us to goodness, and goodness to knowledge. Similarly, self-control builds perseverance, and perseverance will lead to kindness.
Growing begins with faith.
As you delight in God, you begin to have discernment. You'll have knowledge and self-control because these are fruits of the Spirit (Genesis 5:22-23). So, the whole theme of this is us walking with God and making effort. But ultimately, it's God's power through us.
I want you to ask yourself, “What do I want?” Be really honest as you process your answer to this question. And as you dig deeper, you’ll ultimately find your real desires.
You might be able to do this reflection alone, but it's best done in community with other people who love you.
[Every good thing and everything we're craving
is found in God.]
But if we want this to be a reality and not just lip service, we have to know what those needs are, and we have to bring those needs to Him. So, take the time to process what you want. Figure that out, process it, and then ask yourself, “why do I want what I want?”
This is only a highlight reel of an episode from our ‘Made For This’ podcast. Listen to the full episode at the top of this page. Text the word “podcast” to 221-422-5626 to talk to us directly. We would love to hear what the podcast has meant to you, where you're from, and who you are.
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