… after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin … — James 1:15
Now how does God satisfying our desires enable us to live a supernatural Christian life? Think about it for a moment. Where do sins come from? Don’t they come from our own evil desires?
In fact, I’m going to throw out an alternative definition of sin: Any time we use something other than God’s provision to satisfy our desires. I’m not sure that covers every instance of sin, but it covers a lot.
When we go to God with our desires — the good, the bad and the ugly — then He can untangle them, untwist them, un-corrupt them, satisfy them and make us whole.
Sometime back a woman wrote to me who was struggling with lesbian desires. Here’s a desire that isn’t going to go away simply by wishing it away. She needed something more powerful than a wish. This was her Canaan. And the only way the walls of Jericho are going to fall for her is when she takes those desires to God. Only Jesus can satisfy those desires with good things.
There are, of course, many other ways of receiving the grace of God for everyday supernatural Christian living. One of them is to take our hurts to God. Living in a fallen world, we expend tremendous energy managing and avoiding emotional pain. It’s hard to stay in step with the Spirit when we are continually dodging the arrows of the enemy because our shield of faith is full of holes. But, when God heals the hurts with soothing Truth, the shield gets patched and the arrows don’t sting anymore.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
Dwight Clough is the author of four Christian books and is an active member of Lake City Church in Madison. This devotional is also available via email and you may review the archives back to 2002. To contact Dwight or Kim, use their contact form. You may also support their ministry.