Desire and discernment
Friday, December 5, 2008 at 12:10PM 
There's a scene in "The Mask of Zorro" in which early on in the story, a young man (played by Antonia Banderas) finds himself drunk in a cantina. The young man and his brother had grown up as orphans, and he has witnessed the slaughter of his brother at the hands of a malevolent and wicked military officer.
While drunk in the cantina, the young man sees his brother's murderer ride into town and determines to take his vengeance. As he gets up to rush out towards his enemy, he is knocked down by another man, a mysterious stranger, who happens to be Zorro cloaked in disguise.
Not knowing to whom he's speaking, the bewildered young man scrambles and spits out, "What are you doing?! I was about to kill that man."
Zorro answers, "You should thank me."
"I should thank you?!"
"Yes," says Zorro. "You would have fought bravely, and died quickly; for that man is trained to kill and you are trained to drink."
The young man's desires, in this case, would have lead to disastrous consequences.
But, not all desire is bad. There are four roots or sources of desire that whisper in our ears, each attempting to sway us:
- The ruined world
- The ruined angels
- The ruined heart (the flesh)
- The restored heart
If you're going to live from desire, a caution must be given: We should neither dismiss all desire, nor should we indulge all desire. It requires discernment to know the root of any particular desire.
As we walk with God, the desires of the restored heart grow stronger and those offered by all that is ruined are crucifed.
Our task is to indulge the deep desires of our new and noble hearts in ways that are life-giving -- not rushing in too early, but allowing the impeccable timing of God to direct their fulfillment.
Reader Comments (5)
Very good word here. It seems that you and I were in initial communication with each other over this type of thinking. I had been hearing a lot of talk about following the desires of our hearts, and there was a lot of great stuff being said by various people, but it also seemed to me that one thing that was lacking was the discernment that you're talking about here. I believe it was finally a blog post of yours along this line that Aida had linked to that made me smile. I hope and pray that more and more people will come to understand the wonders of the new heart that God has given them, and that they'll truly "indulge the deep desires" of their new heart, and that they'll do it through wisdom and discernment.
God's timing - and us not rushing things - is a huge ongoing thought that I like to talk about as well. Sometimes our good desires are so wonderful and so deep that it's hard for us to understand why God hasn't yet fulfilled them. But we can rest in Him, knowing that His timing and His working in and through us is perfect.
Thanks, Joel. Perhaps one of the greatest challenges I've faced personally is to learn how to trust God's timing for the fulfillment of particular desires - as you say, resting in confidence in him. And, doing this without dismissing my desires.
I think his kindness often lies in this apparent delay or withholding; a kindness that will often become evident only later.
Let me add to this post the idea that among the four sources of desire I mention, the one that is the truest you, the dominant source of your current identity, is indeed the restored heart. ...even though it may not feel this way; even though it may be buried beneath layers of false allegiances, wounds and competing voices. You are more than you think you are: more like Jesus, more true, more free.
Great blog, Jim, and good comments. In order to discern, we have to get beyond allowing fear to hold us back. Unfortunately, sometimes the only way we find out if our desires are from our new heart is by testing them out. If we're not sure, it's best to procede cautiously but sometimes we have to move forward before we know for sure. Then as we test these desires, their source becomes obvious and then we can decide to either continue or to stop.
The more we're willing to test them and possibly miss it, the more we'll come to recognize when it's our heart speaking to us.
Aida,
Absolutely. A religious mentality ("I must always make sure I'm doing the right thing, so I won't venture out unless I'm absolutely sure that I"m in God's will") can keep us from testing those desires. Great point.