Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. John 12:24-25
When it comes to our passions and desires nothing seems cut and dry. It’s like trying to navigate mirky waters - just what exactly is what? But the profound truth remains - everything starts with a desire, whether its doing good or doing evil. Given the tricky nature of desires, I suppose it’s no wonder the Bible notes, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9). Of all unruly things in existence, who has mastered the heart? Who has tamed it? For the heart is the seat of a man’s will and desires.
“The greater the potential for good, the greater the potential for evil,” Elisabeth Elliot, wife of martyr Jim Elliot, wrote in speaking on the struggle she and Jim endured as they waited to be united together in marriage. “A good and perfect gift, these natural desires. But so much more necessary that they be restrained, controlled, corrected, even crucified, that they might be reborn in power and purity for God.”
At the crux of every trial and temptation is a struggle between the self and God; we wrestle with God over who will be in charge: us or Him. We struggle between choosing His will or our own. The more valuable the prize, the greater the struggle. Deep down we want to be captain of our destinies, we want to be seated on the throne of our hearts. We are willing to obey, but only if it means we get what we want. We say, “I will surrender to the will of the Lord, but only if He gives me (fill in the blank) in return.” We want to know what’s in it for us should we choose to surrender.
