The Inner War of Opposing Desires
There is no greater force in all the world than that of desire. It was desire, an inner ambition, that drove Napoleon to his conquests of Europe and Egypt. It was passion, the inner craving for excellence that inspired Beethoven to compose the 5th Symphony. And it was drive -- deep primal longing -- that led the American settlers as they ventured out west and sought to carve out for themselves a little slice of earth to reside upon in that brave new world.
Desire. The fuel of all progress, expansion and discovery. Winners win because their passion pushes them to prepare. Winners win because they can't tolerate defeat. Can't tolerate mediocrity. Lack. Loss. Second place. It is desire that causes the innovators to throw away the manuals and re-create the world from their imagination and it is passion that pushes engineers and explorers to go further, make it bigger, faster, stronger and better.
Yet, desire is tested. Every person, no matter their upbringing, will inevitably face this one destiny-shaping question: what do you want more?
Jesus was no stranger to this test. We see in Luke 4 that after being led in the wilderness by the Spirit to fast for 40 days that He found Himself face-to-face with the question that has overshadowed all of humanity since Adam -- what do you want more?
While its true that Jesus was tempted by the devil -- meaning that there was a supernatural dimension to His trial -- it is also equally true that it was only a temptation if it was applying pressure to a certain area in His heart that He had desire for. It is obviously not a reach to understand that after fasting 40 days that Jesus desired bread. But what is often looked over as we read is that the second temptation that Jesus endured -- the offer of power and fame -- was something that Jesus longed for in His heart as well.
And what an offer it was. We watch movies and read comic books that have scenes where the devil comes to someone and offers them greatness in exchange for their souls and what is somewhat shocking as we read this passage is that not only is the offer a real proposal (see Luke 4:6) but also that it is not new one. The devil actually promised Jesus power and glory in exchange for His soul.
The wilderness is not something that only Jesus went through. It is this purifying valley of decision, where it is shown to us that living fully for God and manifesting His Will fully through our lives means saying an absolute "NO" to many things. In this wilderness we are shown that we can't be fence-sitting, double-minded men, who waver between two opinions. We see here that in order to swim in deep waters that we must take our foot off the shore and abandon ourselves fully to the ocean of mystery that is God.
It is here where we stand before two futures and the age old question that has been asked of every would be great man or woman of God is posed: what is it that you really want?
Desire. The fuel of all progress, expansion and discovery. Winners win because their passion pushes them to prepare. Winners win because they can't tolerate defeat. Can't tolerate mediocrity. Lack. Loss. Second place. It is desire that causes the innovators to throw away the manuals and re-create the world from their imagination and it is passion that pushes engineers and explorers to go further, make it bigger, faster, stronger and better.
Yet, desire is tested. Every person, no matter their upbringing, will inevitably face this one destiny-shaping question: what do you want more?
Jesus was no stranger to this test. We see in Luke 4 that after being led in the wilderness by the Spirit to fast for 40 days that He found Himself face-to-face with the question that has overshadowed all of humanity since Adam -- what do you want more?
While its true that Jesus was tempted by the devil -- meaning that there was a supernatural dimension to His trial -- it is also equally true that it was only a temptation if it was applying pressure to a certain area in His heart that He had desire for. It is obviously not a reach to understand that after fasting 40 days that Jesus desired bread. But what is often looked over as we read is that the second temptation that Jesus endured -- the offer of power and fame -- was something that Jesus longed for in His heart as well.
And what an offer it was. We watch movies and read comic books that have scenes where the devil comes to someone and offers them greatness in exchange for their souls and what is somewhat shocking as we read this passage is that not only is the offer a real proposal (see Luke 4:6) but also that it is not new one. The devil actually promised Jesus power and glory in exchange for His soul.
The wilderness is not something that only Jesus went through. It is this purifying valley of decision, where it is shown to us that living fully for God and manifesting His Will fully through our lives means saying an absolute "NO" to many things. In this wilderness we are shown that we can't be fence-sitting, double-minded men, who waver between two opinions. We see here that in order to swim in deep waters that we must take our foot off the shore and abandon ourselves fully to the ocean of mystery that is God.
It is here where we stand before two futures and the age old question that has been asked of every would be great man or woman of God is posed: what is it that you really want?
Comments
Post a Comment