Hunting
In this article from Desiring God, John Piper expands upon what Bunyan has to say about our desires. I think he puts into words really well what we as Christians deal with daily and what we (hopefully) attempt to put into our own words regularly with other Christians as we seek to navigate our hearts. So without further ado, here is an excerpt from What your passions say about you. You can find the full length version at…
http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/what-your-passions-say-about-you
John Bunyan was a pastor who spent considerable time thinking about how pleasures operate in our lives. In one of his sermons Bunyan said: “desires are hunting things.” Stalking through cornfields in boots, camo overalls, and a blaze orange hat is a fitting metaphor for the restless heart in search of pleasures. Our hearts are hungry and our hearts hunt this world for something (or someone) to fill a void.
But of course not all of our desires are good and helpful. Our desires may be pure or sinfully twisted.
Discerning the DesiresSinful desires manifest themselves in sinful actions and words. A heart bent on sinful, selfish pursuits will trample anyone who gets in the way (James 4:1–4). Self-centered desires lead into all sorts of problems: the desire to win arguments, to overeat, to indulge in laziness, to pursue sexual sin, or to chase after selfish gain. The heart chases a million desires.
The gospel of Jesus Christ confronts these sinful desires head-on. Christ died on a cross not merely to self-improve us but to re-create us, from the inside out, and that includes our unseen desires and motivations.
By God’s regenerating grace, new desires begin to emerge in us. For the first time, we desire to commune with God, to spend time with him, and to learn about him in the Bible. We feel a new pull towards God like we’ve never experienced before (Isaiah 26:9). These new longings and desires and anticipations get expressed to him in our prayers (Romans 8:15). And we experience new delight in gathering with God’s people in church on Sundays, and new delight to live in obedience to God’s will, all for his honor and his glory.
As Bunyan said, “Love to God is more seen in desires than in any Christian act.” This is because outward religion and actions can be faked; but our deepest desires cannot. Therefore, “There is nothing that God likes of ours better than he likes our true desires.”
When God has a priority in our desires, he has our hearts. And this is a miracle.
What fundamentally changes is that we no longer live for ourselves and for the gratification of our sinful inclinations. Our hearts are now driven by new desires for God.
Competing DesiresBut those old sinful desires don’t forfeit and move on. In the Christian heart a war breaks out. The flesh (the fountain of old desires) and the Spirit (the fountain of new desires) war against each other. Our faith in Christ introduces us to the conflict of the Christian life, a conflict of passions (Galatians 5:17). In this conflict we get exposed to the scent of desires that entice us.