Also known, in the dictionary, as: burning, predilection, yearn, itch, carnal passion, lasciviousness, lust, passion, libido, raunchiness, proclivity etc.
This thing called desire is that cup of sweetness whose bottom is bitterness and gall. Thing is, once you have a taste of its initial sweetness, it leaves you thinking it’s all sweetness and gets you wanting more so you return for a little sip of that sweetness and that sweetness until you get to the bottom and swallow its inevitable bile.
“But each one is tempted when he is dragged away and enticed by his own desire. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is full grown, it brings forth death”
(James 1:14-15).
Thinking of Absalom, Esau, Saul, Judas and their calamitous ends all points to a beginning of desire.
Whilst desire is by no means evil through and through; for instance, Paul used the same word to describe how desperately he wanted to be with Christ (Philippians 1:23), any desire not channelled towards Christ Himself will end in bitterness even if it’s a desire for something as seemingly innocent as for the good of humanity.
When desire does lure us into sin, the solution isn’t to remain in its pit. It all began with desire for David when he spotted Bathsheba before he was entangled in a web of adultery, deceit, murder and theft and he could easily have accepted his fate of how horrible a human he was and remained there but this man in genuine repentance returned to the Father of mercies and received a lavish, almost embarrassing, abundance of mercies in the form of Solomon and an everlasting throne.
We are safest when we CURB this thing when it arises on first instance. The Bible speaks of desire as a baby conceived and this is an instance where the act of abortion can be employed without any controversies.
Uncurbed desire has a constant cycle of Temptation ~> sin ~> habit ~> death ~> separation from God forever.
When we sense our eyes beginning to look at someone or something with envy, lust, greed, gluttony and as many more evils that can lead to death, we must immediately cut it off and take it to God.
Aren’t our hearts deceitful for us to depend on it to tell us when we are embarking on this journey of death? Our prayer can only be to the God of Truth:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart. Examine me, and know my anxious thoughts, and see if there be any offensive way within me, and lead me in the way everlasting”
(Psalms 139:23-24).
“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall”
(1 Corinthians 10:12)