Quotes about Desires

I am designed to appreciate beautiful things, but I must not attach my identity to how many of those things I possess, and I must not let my heart be ruled by

What do I really want in life: the success of God's agenda of grace or the fulfillment of my catalog of desires?

the struggle of midlife is fundamentally rooted in the idolatries of the heart.

This war is a battle for the control of your heart, and whatever functionally rules your heart will then shape the way you see life and your desires, and it will control your words and behavior.

the more you focus on your own neediness, the more your desires will be christened as needs.

Whatever functionally rules your heart will then shape the way you see life and your desires, and it will control your words and behavior.

Often we make the mistake of thinking we have a heart for the Lord, when really we're just thankful for him because at that moment he seems to be delivering to us what we have truly set our hearts on. Often we reduce God to just the deliverer of good fits, rather than recognizing him as the ultimate heart-satisfying gift.

the heart can be captured or ruled by only two things. I'll use Paul's terms. Your heart is always living under the rule of "things that are above" or "things that are on earth.

Prayer is much more than bringing to God your list of wants, desires, and needs. It is a radical act of worship that reminds you of who you are, who God is, and what life is all about. Prayer is surrender:

You can't keep the second Great Commandment unless you are first keeping the first. Only in bowing before God and submitting to his desires can we really turn to one another in peace and love. Any agenda for change that forgets this vertical causality will prove temporary and cosmetic.

As parents we need to be rescued from our addiction to the law of our comfort, pleasure, success, and control. It's not our children's sin that is in the way of good parenting; it's our tendency to make parenting about our little kingdom of wants, needs, and desires, and our tendency to want our children to serve the purposes of our kingdom rather than submit to the purposes of God's kingdom.

What we need most is a heart ruled by the Lord rather than by "evil desires." We need to be progressively freed from our slavery to the god-replacements that imprison us in self-absorbed pursuit of our own glory.