M2-S6: CULTIVATING DESIRE

SUMMARY

  • Cultivating desire is storing up for ourselves treasures in heaven.
  • Cultivating (“storing up”) is a lifetime’s work
  • We’ll have to uncover for ourselves the best practices that work for us personally
  • Our desires can be influenced and trained, but they aren’t under our direct control

GUIDANCE FOR PRACTICES

  • Think art, music, and story rather than ideas, teachings, or truths
  • Give desire space and time
  • Give desire sustained attention
  • Ruminate on victories
  • Fan small flames
  • Enter imaginatively into God’s world
  • Have someone speak God’s truth over you
  • Seek out others who deeply desire God and his kingdom
  • Ask God to lead you into deeper desire

SCRIPTURE FOCUS

Matthew 6:19-21

Jesus clearly commands us in this text to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven.

There it is in black and white, something he expects of every one of his followers: not because he is a cruel master or because he is an intellectual philosopher or he’s an efficient manager, but because he loves us deeply and he wants to lead us into a life of abundance that will never end. Somehow this command fits into that desire of his, that reign that we say we want to receive and enter.

So let’s press on this a bit.

We usually think that this is about detachment from worldly things which don’t last. But that’s not where he ends up is it? He goes from detachment from worldly things (like Paul’s “not on earthly things”) and tells us to lay up treasures in heaven. What exactly does he mean by that?

A lot of times we’ve heard this verse talked about in the context of doing good works: that somehow by mowing an elderly person’s yard we place an order from heaven’s Amazon services and a sweet hot tub is delivered outside the mansion we’ll receive someday. We better go sign up for that mission trip, or give a little extra in the collection plate because heavenly interest appreciates a lot faster during a time of rising inflation.

I don’t know if that’s what Jesus is talking about, and here’s why: he leaves the teaching hanging on this line: “because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

He’s pulled a fast one on us, as he frequently does when he speaks like this. He starts in one place of human expectation and then drops us somewhere that’s a little bewildering.

He’s moved it completely out of the realm of things and into the realm of desire.

Jesus loves to talk about the heart because out of it comes every other thing we think, say, or do. This is most emphatically a teaching for his disciples about the heart. He’s commanding us to change our desires from earthly, temporary things, to heavenly desires, to want what heaven has to offer..

One more thing on this text. Roll around the metaphor he’s using: “store up for yourselves”. Does that sound like a one-time thing to you? No, it sounds like that whatever you are doing, your resources are going toward this storing up, sounds like a regular practice, an orientation of your life.

A GUIDE FOR CULTIVATING DESIRE

Let’s talk together about how exactly this works. We want to begin to explore the long-term discipleship practices that you can reach for in your Christian walk when you are bored, dry, doubting, or drifting with respect to your faith in Jesus.

We want to direct your attention toward means of grace that God has provided, wired into your very being, that will lead your heart toward a deep and abiding desire for God and his kingdom. This is one way of looking at the entire Regnare Project: we’re trying to point the way toward where Jesus has always been trying to lead you—toward the fulfillment of what (deep down) you really desire.

This isn’t the kind of thing that we can just tell you exactly how to do, because it will largely depend on who God is making you to be. Our hearts are the core of who we are, and they have been formed in certain ways, and we have to start there in order to cultivate desire.

Let’s talk about that phrasing for a minute: we’re using the word “cultivate” very intentionally. Desires are sort of like an apple tree. Have you ever been out in the forest and seen a tree that has fallen over in a storm? A significant portion of the tree’s mass is invisible below the surface. Desires are exactly like that. We have sort of a handle on what we think is driving us, what our desires are, but sometimes we think or do things we don’t expect, and on reflection we discover there’s more going on inside us than we realize.

And what’s more, we might be skeptical about the idea that our desires can be changed. “Hey buddy, I like chocolate not vanilla!” First of all tastes and desires are different, but even in this case (as anyone knows who has raised children), tastes and desires can be influenced and trained. If that wasn’t the case, why would Jesus command us to orient our lives toward this most important of discipleship priorities? And in case you needed more evidence, just a few verses later, Jesus says “seek first the kingdom of God”. “Seek” is a desiring word, a word that speaks about what the heart desires and what it will pursue.

So our desires can be influenced and trained, but the process is more like gardening or cultivating than it is like carpentry or coding. It’s an organic process than is only partly under our control. The rest is under the direction of the Holy Spirit, who (as Paul says) knows what’s in our hearts and moves effectively in those depths.

So what’s our part here then? There are some basic human things that we can share about cultivating desire, about how we can influence what our hearts want.

Here are a few ideas:

  • Think art, music, and story rather than ideas, teaching, or truth: aim for the heart, not the head. Don’t focus on thoughts about God or ideas. Focus on things that move your heart and your affections. That’s the difference between doctrine and poetry: both are valuable and are made of words but they are aimed at different parts of us.
  • Seek paths you already know: what practices do you already know that move your affections toward God? What leaves you energized, filled up, full of life and ready to go further into the good life with him? Is it time in a worship service? Reading challenging Christian authors? Walking quietly with God in the outdoors?
  • Give desire space and time: cultivating desire requires time, quiet, and attention. A heart at the center of a rushed life will always be looking for coping mechanisms and short-term escape rather than healthy desires.
  • Give desire sustained attention: the object of our desire must be held before the senses and experienced. Think of an unhurried visit to an art gallery, sitting at the center of a thriving, teeming garden, sitting in a dimly lit room and attending closely to a piece of beautiful music, slowly savoring an exquisite meal.
  • Ruminate on victories: the experience of God’s presence, answers to prayer, evidence of real transformation in your own life—these things thrill us. Turning these victories over in our minds, savoring them helps them to multiply. This is a self-fulfilling cycle.
  • Fan small flames: make a big deal out of little victories, small flashes of insight, moments of affection toward God. Ruminate on these and let God fan them into a brighter flame.
  • Enter imaginatively into God’s world: find people who write or speak well about the beauty, wonder, and glory of God, about the destiny that is before us. Let the vision they cast sink into your imagination as you look expectantly for glimpses of this better world breaking in around you.
  • Have someone speak God’s truth over you: ask someone you trust to speak God’s words of welcome, comfort, grace, and favor over you in prayer. It is powerful to hear the words of scripture spoken directly to you and over you. Let the words carve deep paths until your regular life is suffused with God’s affection for you.
  • Seek out others who deeply desire God and his kingdom: we are creatures of mimetic desire (mimetic means copying). Like it or not, we want what the people around us want. Just like when someone in a room starts loudly yawning, it’s very likely to make everyone else in the room yawn. It’s built into our social nature. So seek out people who have a palpable, tangible, and contagious desire for God: that means people who live their faith out loud, who are clearly engaged with God and his kingdom and regularly share what they see God doing.
  • Ask God. In your own words (or feel free to use these), offer this prayer regularly as you consider all of the above: Father, know me better than I know myself. As I surrender to this pursuit of cultivating desire for you and your kingdom, how would you have me go about that pursuit? I surrender to your best way for me to cultivate the deeper, more abiding desire for you that I so desperately need.