Desire God (8/16/08)

Rom.1:24-27 describes how men had rejected God and God then gave them over to sexual impurity in the context of the evil desires of their hearts, resulting in the physical consequences of those sins. Remember what James says in 1:14-15, “But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” That is the same process described in Rom.1:14-15: Desire yields temptation (shameful lusts) which yields sin (rejecting God, setting up myself above God) which results in death (they received in themselves the due penalty of their perversion). God is not an angry, malevolent God but rather, a respectful God with good boundaries - He allows us to choose and pursue what we desire and also allows us to experience the natural consequences of those pursuits. My evil desires are the basis for temptation, which is the doorway to sin, which is the highway to death. The end result of this desire-temptaion-sin-death process was exactly that -spiritual death (Rom.6:23), manifest in men and women worshipping the created rather than the Creator, suppressing the Truth, living in godlessness and wickedness and then experiencing the due result of those consequences of those actions (Rom.1:24-27 again). The converse of this is true also. To escape that process I simply hit at the root - desires (repentance = changed thinking, getting at the root of the problem). Ps.37:4 - delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. As He becomes my passion and focus he changes my desires so temptation has nothing to work with and sin ends up having less and less power over me. He who the son sets free is free indeed (Jn.8:36) and that freedom is maintained and experienced (Gal.5:1) in a growing desire for Him (Ps.73:25) and a passionate pursuit of Him (Jer.30:21), abiding in Him and experiencing His fruit (Jn.15:1-6) rather than the fruit described in in Rom.1:27. Bottom line, delight yourself in Him and pursue Him passionately!