As long as we love God, we will always desire both good and evil. But again, desire comes from two words… “de” which means “of the” and “sire” which means “to father.” Every desire has a father, a point of origin, a source. What is the source of your desires? Well, some of our desires are fathered by the flesh and others are born of the Spirit. Welcome to the Christian life on planet Earth! We have conflicting desires and will until the day we die. That’s our reality. The threshing floor is the throne of grace, the place of His presence.

Sometimes it’s hard for us to know which desire is in accordance with God’s will for our lives. I believe that when we spend time in the presence of God, something happens. The fleshly desires, even those with religious appearances, begin to lose their luster. God’s best for us begins to shine and the desire to walk in that moves us to lay aside personal preference and lay hold of that which we were apprehended for. (Phil 3:12)

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What a dangerous statement for Augustine to have made — or, for that matter, Martin Luther. When we truly love God and don’t just have the form of it, our desires will come into line with His. What about Jesus in Gethsemane? No one would argue His love for God, and yet it was put forth that Jesus desired to avoid the cross. (“Take this cup from Me“). So if Jesus desired something outside the will of God it was suggested, couldn’t we also even if we “truly love God”?

So what do you suppose held Jesus to the cross? Did God the Father force Him? No. It was His love that held Him to the cross. Of course He had conflicting desires. We all do. But in the end He went with His highest desire which was to do Father’s will, which is my point. Jesus had just spent hours with the Father, which was His custom. As a result of this, He received the strength to choose to endure the cross, despising the shame for the joy that was set before Him.

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