Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds is currently posting a series from David Powlison’s book Seeing with New Eyes.  The chapter he is excerpting from is specifically focused on the issue of desires and lusts.  Here are some quotes-

From the Introduction-  

What do you crave, want, pursue, wish, long for, hope to get, feel you need, or passionately desire? God has an interpretation of this that cuts to the marrow of who you are and what you live for. He sees our hearts as an embattled kingdom ruled either by one kind of desire or by another kind. On the one hand, what lusts of the flesh hijack your heart from God’s rule? On the other hand, what holy passions express your love for God? Our desires are not a given, but a fundamental choice. Desires are most often unruly, disorderly, inordinate affections for XYZ, a good thing that I insanely need. Sometimes they are natural affections for xyz, made sane and orderly by subordination to passionate love for God that claims my heart, soul, mind, and might. Our desires are often idolatrous cravings to get good gifts (overthrowing or ignoring the Giver). Sometimes they are intense desires for the Giver himself as supremely more important than whatever good gifts we might gain or lose from his hand.

Christ’s apostles have the greatest confidence that only the resources of the Gospel of grace and truth possess sufficient depth and power to change us in the ways we most need changing. The mercies of God work to forgive and then to change what is deeply evil, but even more deeply curable by God’s hand and voice. The in-working power of grace qualitatively transforms the very desires that psychologists assume are hardwired, unchangeable, morally neutral givens.

From Questions 1:

1. How does the New Testament commonly talk about what’s wrong with people?

Lusts of the flesh (cravings or pleasures) is a summary term for what is wrong with us in God’s eyes. In sin, people turn from God to serve what they want. By grace, people turn to God from their cravings. According to the Lord’s assessment, we all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind (Eph. 2:3). Those outside of Christ are thoroughly controlled by want they want. (”Of course I live for money, reputation, success, looks, and love. What else is there to live for?”) And the most significant inner conflict in Christians is between what the Spirit wants and what we want.

I would add here that it seems that even as believers we continue to do what we want- that is- we are driven by our greatest desire.  For the believer this desire is to be driven by the Spirit and centered in God and His pleasure.

I think this will be worth keeping up on so try to remember to check back at Between Two Worlds.

This entry was posted by Tim Pickard on Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 at 5:03 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.