Desire is an interesting word with many synonyms. As I looked at them I decided to divide them into categories of intensity. My first grouping includes: want, wish, fancy & aspiration. For me, those words give me a sense of far away and probably unattainable. “When I wish upon a star….”
My second category of synonyms is a bit more intense: preference, proclivity, hankering, and itch. What do you feel when you hear those? I think of a good idea, a passing interest or annoyance, something that cannot hold my attention for long because it will be gone in a little while. “Oh, wouldn’t it be nice if we could….”
Then we come to the question that got me started today. How badly do you want it? This last set of synonyms for desire really convicts me and causes me to consider what I really live for. What do I yearn, hunger, thirst, long for, ache, need, and burn for? What do I really desire with the passion these words imply?
So much has to do with the object of my desire. Do I honestly burn for things eternal? And if I do, what am I willing to change in my life or give up in order to see the Kingdom of God and the will of God accomplished on earth as it is in heaven? Do I need God’s kingdom and will like I need air to survive?
Do I hunger and thirst for righteousness, which is an important characteristic of God’s Kingdom? If I do, Jesus promises I will be satisfied. But at what cost to me? Am I burning, not only willing, to participate in praying, investing and working for righteousness. How about other other aspects of His character and kingdom like mercy, love and kindness?
What pulls me to the level of commitment and action required to make a difference in my home, and areas of influence?
This is not about competition with anyone else. I am arguably in the last third or quarter of my life if I even have that long left. My meaning in life and significance come from God alone. Am I using well what I was given at birth to fulfill my destiny as a child of God and disciple of Jesus Christ of Nazareth? Am I allowing God to love me so that I may allow the overflow of that love to spill on others to draw them to the source?
I know these are a lot of questions and I am intentionally writing in the first person. I am genuinely asking myself these questions. Me, myself and I will stand before our Creator one day. Today I want to burn and hunger to hear, “well done good and faithful servant.” Am I determined to faithfully seek His face? And you?
May we all work, live and rest in God’s promise in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
