Let me premise this first. I am not the source of this information. Everything I am posting here is either by experience or by people smarter than me. I am no different than the next guy. I simply have a passion for writing (though I am very obviously not skilled at it), a passion for people, a passion for music, and a passion for God. I want to share my experiences with you and I want to hear back from you.
What is desire? Another book by John Eldredge says its deep inside all of us, that it is the very deepest and underlying feeling that is wired into every human being.
“I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” – U2
“We are never living, but hoping to live.” -Pascal
Don’t these says how much this world is looking for something and can’t find it? Not to say they haven’t found God… they’re just examples.
Aren’t we sometimes afraid to desire something? Don’t say you’re not. What happens when your heart is broken? Aren’t we afraid to desire what it is we lost, again?
From The Journey of Desire, John Eldredge says “something in me knows that to kill desire is to kill my heart altogether.” He then goes on to quote Langston Hughes:
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow. (“Dreams”)
Eldredge continues, “Do we form no friendships because our friends might be taken from us? Do we refuse to love because we may be hurt? Do we forsake our dreams because hope has been deferred? To desire is to open our hearts to the possibility of pain; to shut down our hearts is to die altogether.” (pp 23)
Is this not true?
I’m only half way through the book, so I’m not going to pretend to have an answer. I’ll post a part two when I finish, but hasn’t this shown true for all of our lives?
It’s definitely true for me.
What about you guys? Has this been true for you?
“Longing is the heart’s treasury.” -Augustine
The last thing to ponder, a quote from page 37 of The Journey of Desire, “Somehow, the message had gotten lost by the time Jesus showed up on the scene. The Jews of his day were practicing a very soul-killing spirituality, a lifeless religion of duty and obligation. They had abandoned desire and replaced it with knowledge and performance as the key to life.” (italics mine)
UPDATE: Part 2 is now available here.
You Got The U2 Song Stuck In My Head Lorenie!!!!!!!!
First of all, let me encourage you by saying that you have a perfectly valid ability to write. You can clearly convey a point and capture the reader’s attention with your enthusiasm. I am no critic of writing, but I hear you coming in loud and clear.
As for the certain desires in my life… I will have to ponder that more, but I like the concept of desires being almost a mechanism of God driving us towards what he wills. I suppose the traditional way of thinking about desires involves some kind of thing that a comes over you as an independent agent. We would be lead to believe that these desires are leading to bad or good, and we never can really know.
Like I said, I need a little more time to ponder this. In fact, if you have any spare time, I could use a little of it ;D.
I have a desire to see children fully equipped with the truths of Christ before they enter the world as adults. I am afraid to follow that desire into a career change from engineering to full time ministry because I am confused about whether this desire should lead all of me or part of me.
Thanks again for writing about the deeper things! Caio!
I do understand your dilemma, Jacob. I would be more than happy to share some time with you. I’m sure I’ll see you tomorrow at church as well.
In the mean time, I would suggest The Journey of Desire for you to read.
John Eldredge has a much better way of putting words to these feelings. I’ll be writing a part two of this soon as well.