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Passion / Desire
Ok. I just elaboratly wrote out this post - then, came to post it - and it didn't send [cable! >:( ] - so here goes for a second time!
Passion and Desire - all those things we yearn/long for - those thins we feel we truely want with all that we are [or at least with some of it... ]
Like... the desire to become a doctor - to get married - have children - even those desires we have to sin before we actually sin [and often the desire is gone after we've completed the act :) ] - the desire to perform well in something - the desire to die/begone with [i mean, ppl commit suicide everyday] - the desire to be with someone, intimatly - just desires in general!
Where on earth do these come from?!? AND how are they regulated or how do we control them!??
It just seems to me that things like emotions/feelings can be so blinding at times that we lose all rationale and logic - its hard to step outside the situation and check things out from an objective point of view.
Oh, ontop of all that - there are ppl who are willing to "give up" everything they've ever desired - just to do "right" - how does that all work out. Where does that internal strength come from!
This is really disturbing me - i've been thinking about it for ages - so any thoughts would be appreciated :)
God Bless ya'll
Passion and Desire - all those things we yearn/long for - those thins we feel we truely want with all that we are [or at least with some of it... ]
Like... the desire to become a doctor - to get married - have children - even those desires we have to sin before we actually sin [and often the desire is gone after we've completed the act :) ] - the desire to perform well in something - the desire to die/begone with [i mean, ppl commit suicide everyday] - the desire to be with someone, intimatly - just desires in general!
Where on earth do these come from?!? AND how are they regulated or how do we control them!??
It just seems to me that things like emotions/feelings can be so blinding at times that we lose all rationale and logic - its hard to step outside the situation and check things out from an objective point of view.
Oh, ontop of all that - there are ppl who are willing to "give up" everything they've ever desired - just to do "right" - how does that all work out. Where does that internal strength come from!
This is really disturbing me - i've been thinking about it for ages - so any thoughts would be appreciated :)
God Bless ya'll
Comments
Now as for what you said about I think thats because it's our human nature for us to want to try new things and explore, were very curious :P And once we've been exposed to that desire for too long we move on to other things and find new goals, desiers etc. Like a kid who bugs his mom about a game or toy for ages then when he has it after a few short weeks he barly playes it anymore :P
As for As Christians we have many great ways to 'train' our spirits and bodies :) Such as fasting, prayer, and leading a more religious based life. Im sure theirs more methods but thats just to name a few, they help us train our minds and spirits so we have control and dont fall into every passion or fab.
And to answer where they get the power to give up everything for righteousness, That power comes from a great being, God :) Whether it be a love for Him or a fear of Him or both. Some great examples of people that do this are our everyday priests, monks, bishops, the Pope, etc.
Wow i hope i didnt blab on about nothing related to the topic at hand in anyway :-\ ;) :P hope i helped...
God bless,
Pray for me.
However, there is a whole set of passions and desires that are seated in our souls and us being human. These are our dreams, hopes, wishes. Sometimes, the two sets get mixed up or a seemingly innocent desire, like the desire to be married, gets used by the Devil to turn it into something fleshy. However, one can be passionate about service, people, music, debate, academia, food, travelling. All that is surely honored things. Christ came to give us abundant life, an abundant life in which all things that we desire and hope for are met.
Desires are those which we crave. For example, a desire to see the lost sheep returned to the Church. A desire to help the poor, needy, sick, and the lost. A desire to bring about some change or healing to society. All of these are pure desires. Christ calls us to surrender all our 'positive' passions and desires in Him.
Just my thoughts. Does that help god child?
sotirmou.
sleepy
Thanx guys sooo much for replying.. you all said some really good stuff... so i'm gonna work thru your posts chronologically :D
Allen, the first thing you said was about passion/desires coming from human nature/personality... you know, i thought that too... but then, where do the following verses come in???
"Delight in Me and I will give you the desires of your heart "
… (Psalm 37:4) "For it is I who gave you those desires" (Philippians 2:13)
I find these quotes facinating - but i just don't know where they fit in the big picture. I mean, somewhere else in the Bible we are told that God doesn't tempt us and that we are tempted when we are drawn and enticed by our own desires [that word keeps coming up!] - so there is obviously such thing as a "good" desire and "bad" desire [for lack of a better word... sorry guys..]
Anyway, i don't think the verses above are referring to bad desires, cause then God wouldn't give them to us, so then, how do we know if its good for us if it isn't obviously bad???
ServantOfJesus, you quoted: "And those who are Christ's have crucfied the flesh with its passions and desires." Gal. 5:24 - your right. It is a beauty. However, in this context, don't passions and desires refer to things which draw us AWAY from Christ [Like Sotirmou distinguishes] ??? Cause if that verse were to hold for ALL passions and desires it would contradict the verses i quoted earlier... get me???
Sotirmou... yes, that helped, but can i ask you to elaborate on this please?? ;D
"Christ calls us to surrender all our 'positive' passions and desires in Him."
SleepyMusician - thank you :) thats almost identical to what the dictionary says! :)
Thanx again to everyone who spoke up :) please keep talking :)
"Delight in Me and I will give you the desires of your heart "
… (Psalm 37:4) "For it is I who gave you those desires" (Philippians 2:13)
These are the desires of God. The main desire of God is that every man in the world finds salvation in Jesus Christ. Any desire of our heart that lines up with His will and His heart, God promises that He will give us those desires. If we feel desire(s) to serve people, to glorify His name in any way, to accomplish our dreams, God promises that He will give them to us. Again, the distinction I made earlier is really important. Yes, there is a desire that we acquire from knowing God - the desires of the heart of God that we learn about in the Holy Scripture. But these "godly" desires conflict with the desires of the old man in us, the flesh. These desires are always directed at the self, how the self can be bettered and improved. How the self can be fed and satisfied. Well, actually it is lol We just "discern the spirits" of the desires. If the desires truly line up with the Word of God, those desires are good. This is where it's really helpful to have a FOC to help us discern. We reveal to Him our thoughts and our desires, and by the Lord's guidance, He can use His servant the priest to help us. Yes, you're right. That verse in Galatians is talking about the negative or fleshy desires and passions. Well, all those godly or passions and desires that are of the mind of Christ, He asks us to surrender them into your hands. He doesn't want us to run off and try to accomplish them on our own lest we forget Him and attribute the success to ourselves. He first wants our love and total commitment. He also wants total transparency from us, so that involves us telling Him all our dreams, desires, hopes, and ideas. That's what I meant. :)
Peace,
sotirmou.
I never thought i'd live to see the day where i would say this - but, i don't think i've got anything to say :-\
You explained it all perfectly.
But just one last thing [ahh... i thought i was losing my touch, i new i could find something :) ]...
When you said "He also wants total transparency from us, so that involves us telling Him all our dreams, desires, hopes, and ideas. " - that includes bad stuff too right?? cause you termed it "positive" passions - but i'm not sure where that left all the negative stuff... :-\
Thank you VERY much for explaining all this - it finally makes sense. I think the answer i was looking for was in the part where you mentioned a good relationship with our FOC's cause there are somethings where i HONESTLY can't tell if its good or bad for me..... thats where i get stuck :(
My pleasure and service. I thank the Lord my words were of benefit. Well yes, He wants us to surrender our positive passions. And as for our negative passions, He definitely wants us to surrender them! The Lord is our conquer and the battle is ours with these. We submit to His lordship in fighting these passions. But the fight doesn't really start until we really surrender them. We acknowledge that we're powerless without Him as our Commander in battle. Once we do that, the battle starts and we fight with His name and Cross.
I know what you mean. Achieving total transparency with our FOC's is a very hard thing. Requires a lot of trust in God's sovereignty first and then we then have to trust in the Holy Spirit who works in the Mystery of Confession. But once we do, ohhh yeah baby! ;D The comfort that we can ask for guidance and reveal our thoughts for the Lord to guide us by the priest.
Always a pleasure and service to try to help. Pray for me.
sotirmou.
Desire motivates passion. Passion motivates your actions and sometimes, Your desire to be with Christ develops a passion in you that wants to live a godly life.
While the desire of sex in ur heart develops a passion for sin with someone and in that case the passion affects the mind, the body and the spirit, for example, you think about him everyday, before you go to sleep if you think about him once, ur passion towards him will make you thijnk and think and sin in your heart.
However I hope I didn't complicate you more..
Mike