Reference Passage:
Proverbs 13:19 (NASB)
Desire realized is sweet to the soul,
But it is an abomination to fools to turn away from evil.
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Our sweetest memories are often made when we have our deepest desires satisfied, on our own or with help from others. In fact, most popular movements use this philosophical backbone to attract followers. Anyone who tells the way to pleasure, whatever the hearer's taste, will easily soar high in the approval ratings – the shorter the way, the better. Moreover, the world today offers options for every imaginable preference, humans being a race of diverse likes. Every idea brings a unique sense of gratification – the very thing that makes it difficult to separate a practise and the practitioner. Although our personalities embody immense capabilities, its interesting to note that our desires drive us to use them or simply waste them away.
However, its always impossible to ligitimise every desire. We've happily introduced such words as 'amoral' to convince ourselves that our actions carry no consequence. Whenever a question is raised, almost everyone says, as do I, that they're trying not to 'harm' anybody else. We excuse ourselves liberty even when we cross known boundaries, as long as we're not stepping on someone's toes. Of course, that assumes we can see those toes in the first place and everyone sounds genuinely concerned about the common good. Really?
Whatever our definition of 'evil', evil apparently comprises some portion of everyone's experience. Moreover the global manifestations of evil only increase, never decrease. The point is that, this 'common good' that we imply, is gradually becoming irreversibly invisible. The media may have played a part in the skewed portrayal of facts, but undeniable statistics remain. If we all were authentically trying to make decisions thinking of others, then why is this so?
There is a vital premise to the discussion that sets the subject in a different light. Are we a created lot or a self-made kind? They that have brought about their own existence, or developed their own progress, have the right to chase their own fancies. It is the rest of us that bear the responsibility of pleasing someone else, parents for instance. Coming to think of it, if we are the creation of a creative God, it is implied that our desires are created too. Furthermore, it indicates that the Creator has His own unique desires over creation that seek satisfaction, as is true of us. In that case, should it not be our highest destiny and ultimate desire, to please God fully with our lives?
Its the mark of a good designer to take pleasure in the yield of his invention, which correlates to its own intended state of well-being. I can't help but think of the popular Windows computer operating system. When a click is a click, Microsoft has reason to smile. On the other hand, if a click turns the system feverish, we know something's wrong with Windows. In other words, our pursuit of the Creator's good pleasure would be the ideal ground for the benefit of our race, and self-seeking the cause of our ruin.
God's realistic view of the big picture is another reason for us to seek the common good through Him, rather than on our own. Communism was once touted as the model of a just society, keeping God out of the picture. By and large, communist governments have been atheist in outlook, some even attempting to stamp out religion. But the world is yet to see a single successful Communist country that could attain its theoretical goals without mass murder and curbing of rights to expression. The story of Liu Xiabo, the Chinese Nobel Laureate who was prevented from receiving the prestigious prize, reveals the current state of affairs in China. Communism was no cure for man's natural tendency to serve himself at others' costs, and self-seeking individuals have repeatedly undermined its cause.
Returning to our earlier question of increasing evil, here's food for thought : How could we source everything in life from the One who formed us, and yet claim to derive pleasure on our own, exclusive of Him? Above all, if our ingratitude and negligence had turned our River of Joy into the undrinkable Spring of Sorrow, how could we expect our world to become a happier place with every passing day? The truth is that whenever we willfully relish the forbidden fruit, we court the risk of spending life outside the Garden, banished to till the accursed ground as we please. With the passage of time, the sons of Adam may delight in the sweaty painful labours of the earth and advertise a glittering planet, while actually multiplying their sorrows. Yet, Adam alone knows what he gambled away. Fittingly, our end is a return to the ground we cultivated by life's choices, and not to the delights of God's Garden!
Though His critics ridicule Him as a suicidal hero, the person of Jesus Christ continually exposes our vain self-serving worldviews. Having known His life's real purpose, He prayed agonisingly in Gethsemane, en route to the horrors of crucifixion, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will." (Mathew 26:39)
Sinners discover at the Cross that Christ's submission to that higher will, helped release forever God's goodwill toward us – a uniting joy that far surpasses the divisive peaks of lust.
As suggests the wise man, our hope is to forsake our foolish ways – but would we?
