Bob's Blog

A couple of posts ago, I wrote about "desire." In that post, I said that our desires are not bad. That God gives us our desires and that we can live a life based on Desire not based on Duty. The trouble is, often we focus those desires on the wrong object instead of where God intended us to focus them.   A great example that most men can relate to is lust, often manifested as a struggle with pornography.  Lust is typically a search for affirmation, love, acceptance and beauty.  All of these are desires that are God-given, but the object is all wrong.  Those desires are intended to show us our deep need for an intimate relationship with God.  He is a God of love and beauty.  He offers affirmation and acceptance. But instead we choose a substitute, the woman!  In essence we are committing Adam's original sin all over again.   After Eve fell, Adam had a choice.  Does he follow after God or does he follow after the created being, Eve?  We all know the choice he made and ma

One of my favorite scenes in the movie "The Matrix" is the subway station fight scene. I know many of you have seen the movie, so I will not spend much time setting the scene. Neo has discovered that the world in which he has been living is a fake, an illusion; one in which humanity is held captive by machines, the matrix. But, he has become enlightened. In essence, he has been born again. He now understands the truth but he is still not sure of his role in it. During one of his trips back into the matrix he meets an agent, Mr. Smith, in the above mentioned subway station. During the fight that ensues the agent continues to refer to Neo by his old matrix name, Mr Anderson. The fight is a hard fought one. Clearly the agent is getting the upper hand. But, right at the last minute, when death looks imminent, Neo defiently says, "My name is Neo!" as he defeats the agent. Satan is just like Mr. Smith. He knows that we have been given a new name. "Neo&qu

I was listening to John Eldredge's podcast this week in which he quoted Frederick Buechner. "The place where God calls you is where your deep joy and the world's deep hunger meet." Can this really be true? Haven't we been taught in both deeds and words that the Christian life is more about duty than desire. I believe that Buechner's words are true. That God places down deep in our hearts, a desire that reveals his plan for our destiny. I believe that these core desires are what are referred to in Psalm 37:4. "Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart." These desires that God places in our hearts are not bad. They are good! They are very good! Our part in this equation is to "Delight yourself in the LORD." The revelation of the desires of our heart will follow.