Misdirected Desire

Desire, wisdom, and the journey of Christian maturity

6/20/20268 min read

The vast majority of people who come to God want something. I was one of them. With my needs, my anxiety, and all my uncertainty in life, I asked God for things to become true.

God is always merciful, but God is not a cosmic Santa Claus in the sky. More and more, I believe that this idea of “experiencing God”, or “feeling God”, as some call it, is that they’re expecting something in return. Some people don’t worship God because of what God is, but because of the returns they may get, and perhaps this is the fundamental problem we face as humans: the problem of misdirected desire.

When God created the Universe, he was saying things were “good”, the Hebrew word tov. And God created things that are beautiful as well, not only practical.

Out of the ground the Lord God caused every tree to grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. - Genesis 2:9

Then, humankind decided to take it on its own, as we see in the fall story. Pay attention to the part I highlighted in bold:

Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die! For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves waist coverings. - Genesis 3:1-7

The woman first sees the fruit, then desires it, and finally takes it. This is the sequence we are doing many years later, distancing ourselves from God. The question is:

Why was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil there, anyway?

My belief is that God would eventually serve the fruit of wisdom to humankind, but wisdom takes time. Trusting God to reveal the wisdom one day was the original plan, but we decided to take it sooner, even though we were not ready. Then, as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. We, as humans, couldn’t handle that. We saw ourselves naked, tried to make a plan for hiding that fact, and God expelled us from His presence in the Garden of Eden. God then put two Cherub angels to guard the way of the Tree of Life:

So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. - Genesis 3:23-24

It is common sense that Adam and Eve had to eat from the tree of life constantly to stay alive, and therefore, they were eternal before the fall. When God prevented them from eating the fruit, their bodies began to decay, and eventually they died, as God promised. Hold that thought, because I will come back with this later.

Thus, our desire to take matters into our own hands rather than wait for God’s plan was the main issue. The disobedience wasn’t because God was hurt by our not following what He said, but mainly because of our lack of trust in His plans for us, which prevented us from having the full life and meaningful purpose He planned for us on Earth. Since God is love, as 1 John 4:8 puts it, He saw His creation walking away from His presence, and therefore suffering in this process. All because we had a misdirected desire for something we shouldn’t take but should wait for God to give us in His time. Now what?

Here comes Jesus

God’s plan, then, was to come to Earth in human form to show us what it is like to be a perfect human. Jesus was born and lived a perfect life, obeying God in everything. Look at what Jesus Himself said:

Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. - John 5:19

The Father initiates, sends, commands, commissions, and grants; the Son responds, obeys, performs his Father’s will, and receives authority. That should be us. Jesus was the One who could align God’s desires perfectly with His own, thereby reaching full human potential. By the way, the word “will” from the Lord’s prayer “let your will be done” is the Greek word Thelema, meaning "will," "desire," "wish," or "purpose." The purpose of our life is to fulfill the desires of God in us. Then we can say we found purpose in life. Then we can say, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” because the want we wish for is not ours but God’s. That’s why Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Do you get the point? It is all about desire and where it comes from.

When we look for things, we may find them beautiful, and I believe to such a degree, it is okay to do so, since God made things beautiful, and the sin is not here. The sin is wanting to possess something God didn’t give us. The desire to have what others have. The tenth commandment explicitly says that: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor”. The word “covet” is the Hebrew word “chamad”, which means “beauty, greatly beloved, covet, delectable thing, great delight, desire, lust.” Look at the word desire again. You shall not desire what is not yours, or what God gave to others and not to you.

What should I do?

Thus, what should we do then? I look at a Ferrari, and I want that thing. Or, for instance, how can I wish for others the same thing I wish for myself if I can’t trust my heart? Jesus said that “Whatever you wish/desire (thelema) others do to you, do also to them” - Matthew 7:12, and that was the sum of the Law and the Prophets. What if I want to hurt myself? Should I then hurt others?

Of course not. The entire Hebrew Scripture is designed to move the human heart toward this specific type of "desire" for the well-being of others. But how?

This is the sanctification process that occurs only when the Holy Spirit dwells in you. You cannot do it yourself. It is initiated when you declare that you want to follow Jesus, repent of your current way of living (the so-called justification process, in which God declares you just by grace), and DIE to your desires (a.k.a. the sanctification process, where the Holy Spirit will lead you to God’s way).

Here is the key: Die to yourself means denying your own desires and accepting all desires that come from God. You may ask, “Yes, but how can I do that? I don’t have a red line that I can call God and ask what He wants.” Fair enough, but God told us throughout the Bible how to have a relationship with Him through practical attitudes. I list at least eight disciplines here that we, as mature Christians, should follow to align our desires with God’s.

Read the Scripture: By reading and re-reading the Bible every day, God will reveal His word to you.
Pray: Pray constantly, as Paul says, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” - Ephesians 6:18
Worship: We must fix our eyes on God and express our love for Him.
Community: Make relationships with others and point the way of Christ to them
Service: Serve your family, then one another, then your church, then your city, and so on
Solitude and Silence: Meditate on God’s word day and night
Fasting: Jesus said, “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do…”, so fasting is not optional
Gratitude and Reflection: We remember God’s work and grow in awareness.

When we practice these things, we align our desires, and God gives us the fruit of the Spirit. Note the singular: it is one fruit of the Spirit, with nine character traits (love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control). By one fruit Adam fell. When we align our desires, we'll bear one fruit: the restored character of a person back in the "garden" of God’s presence.

Let’s come back to my initial point about the cherubim guarding the tree of life:

Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. - Exodus 25:19

There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites. - Exodus 25:22

She [wisdom] is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed. - Proverbs 3:18

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. - John 20:11-12

The angels that were guarding the tree of life, the law, and also guarding Jesus, the representation of the tree of life and the fulfillment of the law. He, Jesus, is the one Who gives us life and life to the full. By aligning our desires with God, we find purpose in life, and everything will be given to us. Everything that God desires.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. - John 15:5

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. - John 10:10

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. - Matthew 7:7-8

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