Defined by Desire

Thoughts on Thomas Chalmers' THE EXPULSIVE POWER OF A NEW AFFECTION

We are defined by desire, in so many respects. The word makes it clear. Each of us is lured and enticed by our own desires which gives birth to sin bringing death (James 1:13-14).

Thomas Chalmers explains, “It is thus, that the boy ceases, at length, to be the slave of his appetite, but it is because a manlier taste has now brought it into subordination - and that the youth ceases to idolize pleasure, but it is because the idol of wealth has become the stronger and gotten the ascendancy and that even the love of money ceases to have the mastery over the heart of many a thriving citizen, but it is because drawn into, the whirl of city polities, another affection has been wrought into his moral system, and he is now lorded over by the love of power. There is not one of these transformations in which the heart is left without an object.”

But there is hope. Peter explains the liberation of God’s divine power over our lives: 2 Pet 1: “3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

What are “all things that pertain to life and godliness”? Chalmers describes the impossibility that man can turn from the desires of his heart without a greater replacement desire. “He loves nothing above it, and he cares for nothing beyond it; and to bid him love not the world, is to pass a sentence of expulsion on all the inmates of his bosom.” A man must both pursue and welcome new inmates.

But what and who are these inmates? “But if, during the time of his contemplation, some happy island of the blest had floated by; and there had burst upon his senses the light of its surpassing glories, and its sounds of sweeter melody; - and he clearly saw, that there, a purer beauty rested upon every field, and a more heartfelt joy spread itself among all the families; and he could discern there, a peace, and a piety, and a benevolence, which put a moral gladness into every bosom, and united the whole society in one rejoicing sympathy with each other, and with the beneficent Father of them all. - Could he further see, that pain and mortality were there unknown; and above all, that signals of welcome were hung out, and an avenue of communication was made for him - perceive you not, that what was before the wilderness, would become the land of invitation; and that now the world would be the wilderness?”

Father, by the power of your divine nature and the Holy Spirit, grant us the desire to see and welcome these scenes and be ever inspired to pursue “space teeming with beatific scenes, and beatific society.”

And so be encouraged and meditate on Galatians 5:16-17, 24 : “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”