Desires Human and Divine

August 17th, 2018 Posted in writing

Our human desires can be out of control sometimes or directed to the wrong things. They can get us into troublewhen our wants become demands which we expect God or life or other people to fulfill.

But desires can also be good and noble. For instance, Jesustaught us to desire that the Kingdom of Heaven would come, to ask for our daily breadand prayto be kept safe from temptation. And Jesus himself expressed to the Father the desire that his disciples would be with him wherever he was.

We may think that, since God is supposed to be perfect and need nothing, God would himself have no desires.  But the truth is God has many desires (call them dreams or longings if you like) and gives voice to them in many ways.

Think of the 10 Commandments, for instance, as one way in which God says what he desires for us in our relationships with him, with the truth and with each other. The Beatitudes spoken by Jesus do the same thing. And we shouldn’t forget the times when Jesus expressed his wish that people have confidence in him and trust him with their own desires for themselves and others. Yes, God definitely has desires.

I think the sign that we are getting closer to the Kingdom of God, and it is getting closer to us, is when we discover that our desires are coming to resemble God’s more and more as time goes by. That, after all, is what we are made for and what God longs for, as well.

In the Comment section below, feel free to share what desires have led you in a good direction, and howyou tell the difference betweendesires that are good and holy and those which are not.  

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