Godly Desire: Just Drama or Faith-Driven Conviction?
Godly desire comes from both our awareness and a deep faith-driven conviction, not drama. This desire produces a genuine love for others by which we will be known. But what is the root of this love? Romans 5:8 states that “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (NKJV). Our desire is rooted in the love that God demonstrated to us when he chose his only Son to die for us. This is further clarified in 2 Corinthians 5:15 when Paul says that Jesus died for us so that we will no longer live for ourselves but for him who died and was risen. God sets the stage and drives our conviction to love and serve others. We are simply his ambassadors, called to obedience.
Godly Desire is Our Response to Godly Awareness
We previously spoke of having awareness for the least of our brothers and sisters. The parable of the good Samaritan found in Luke 10:25–37 sets before us a fine example of moving forward in conviction, and is ample justification for our desire to act and minister to those that are least considered. In verse 37 we are admonished to “go and do likewise.” Therefore, our response to divinely guided awareness needs to become a matter of godly desire because of God’s love and conviction that is found in his very Word.
Preparation to Fulfill Godly Desire
As Christians, we are called to live a life of obedience to the will of God. How well prepared are we to intentionally respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit? As his love dwells in our hearts, we are more inclined to fulfill the desires he gives us. Consider Ephesians 3:16–19:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (NIV)
It’s important to know about God’s nature, but more than knowing, our primary focus for fulfilling desire should be on hearing God’s words and putting them into practice (Luke 6:47). In our next discussion, we will further look into how we can put his Word into practice to assure our ability to appropriately respond to our new found desire to serve one another.
Featured photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash; in-text photo by fauxels on Pexels
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