Desire Rules

If you ask people why they do what they are doing, many times their response will be “I do it because it is fun.”  They do it because it makes them happy, because they desire to do it.  The choices and actions of people are determined by their desires.  This is a law of our nature.  This is the way God has made us.  Desire rules the world.  The trick is to desire the right things.  Because our nature has been driven off course by sin, our hearts desire things that are ultimately harmful to us.  The goal of the Bible is to get us to desire things that are truly for our eternal benefit.  That is what the word of God does to our hearts as we read it every day.  It gives us reasons and motives to turn away from desires that are contrary to God and our own good.  It commands, exhorts, and warns us in every way possible to set the affections of our hearts on God and noble things.  The result will be breathtaking, magnificent and eternal happiness.  

The Psychology of the Bible

The human heart is a 400 horsepower muscle-car of desires, willing to run over anything that gets in the way of fulfilling its desires.  Paul wrote that there was a “law” within him that was on the warpath against his purpose to obey God.  Peter identifies this antagonist as our own “fleshly lusts that wage war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11).  Ever since Sigmund Freud, psychology has offered us all kinds of theories to explain human behavior.  The most accurate assessment of why we do what we do is found in the Bible.  The most penetrating analysis I have ever read on this subject is in Thomas Manton’s book on the Epistle of James.  He wrote it in the 17th century, and I have never read anything more brilliant.  He opened up the meaning of several passages in the Bible with an insight I have rarely encountered.  For more on this important subject, hear my podcast called The Law of the Soul at http://www.michaelstohlmeyer.com