WANTING GOOD THINGS

James 3:13-15  Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 

          What is it that makes desires wrong? This question is unsettling to people whose object of desire is a good thing. Sometimes our desires are themselves evil; like wanting to steal, or kill someone. But even a good desire can become evil. This occurs when we become obsessed with achieving or gaining the good. We replace God’s will with our own in order to receive the good.

          The evil we find in our desires often lies not in what we want but in the fact that we want it too much. Our natural desires for good things are meant to exist in subordination to our desire to please God, the Giver of gifts. Evil exists in the ruling status of the desire, not in the object.

          This fact is an important one to grasp for our own self-understanding. Our need for Christ and his mercies become evident. Only when we look to him to receive the good, can we find change occurring in us. We need to learn to wait for Him to bring about the good.

          Jesus was no idolater. His desires were strong, but mastered by his love for the Father.

           “If natural affections remain submitted to God, such faith will produce visible love. For example, if you wish your child to grow up to be a Christian, and your child strays, it may break your heart, but it will not make you sin against either God or your child. Anger, obsessive anxiety, suspiciousness, or manipulation gives evidence that desire for a good thing has grown monstrous. Wise parenting demonstrates that the desire, a passionate and broken-hearted love, is aligned rightly.”   (pgs. 5-6, The Sufficiency of Scripture to Diagnose and Cure Souls)