Master 232: Desire fulfilled

I'm convinced that my brain is positively stuffed full of ideas that I would love to blog about, but the times when it actually flows coherently from my mind to the page seem frustratingly scattered, and I simply don't have the time to dedicate to ten-page postings. (Ha!)

Anyhow, here's a really quick thought. I've had two conversations in the last month, both with guys about my age, about the purpose of life, what we should be aiming at, what is really worthwhile and valuable. Of course I think about stuff like that all the time, but I often wonder just how much "normal" people do reflect on those big questions. Most people who have reflected on these points, I take it, have tended to conclude that the worthwhile life is one aimed at something larger, longer-lasting, and more significant than one's own gratification and mere desire-satisfaction. And this seems right, or at least it seems to move in the right direction.

But I think a problem can emerge if what one aims at is something the fulfillment or completion of which is essentially beyond one's reach. And this places one in a curious paradox. Human experience seems to teach that aiming just at attainable goods will not satisfy. For every accomplishment and milestone that we achieve, there is always one more to be attained. There's always a step that we haven't yet reached. And certainly one of the hardest thing for a person, having actually reached the top of one of these ladders, is to learn that it's been leaning against the wrong building all along.

But it doesn't seem better to reach only for what is unattainable. The constant deferral of satisfaction is frustrating and becomes more frustrating with time. I would suggest that the protracted deferral of satisfaction or fulfillment is a bad thing. (In connection with this point, I think it would be good for Christians to reflect on how they think about and frame the hope of heaven and eternal life that is spoken of in the Bible.)

Solomon, it seems, agrees with me, for he writes:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
But desire fulfilled is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12)

Now the great thing about proverbs is the way in which they present (or don't present) the truth. The meaning isn't always obvious and requires some work to get at. In fact, you might want to stop and reflectively read through Proverbs 13 before continuing.

On the surface, it looks like Solomon is advocating the pursuit of desire-fulfillment. 'If you have a desire, you should seek to fulfill it, to satisfy it. Don't wait. Don't delay. That will just make your heart sick. Get it now!' Isn't that just the philosophy that so many in our world advocate?

But wait a minute: there's a problem! There is a whole lot of people seeking to fulfill their desires and it's not working well for them. Even when they fulfill those desires they're not satisfied. And the relentless pursuit is wearing away at them. Was Solomon simply mistaken then? What could he possibly mean?

The key to understanding this proverb, I think, lies in recognizing that the way of the world is actually not the way of "desire fulfilled" but rather of "hope deferred." You might think that getting that job or that raise, that marrying that girl, moving to a new area, making some new friends, finding a worthwhile hobby, or whatever else will satisfy you, but the truth is that it won't. You'll find you need still more money, that she's not as perfect as you thought (and neither are you), that your problems have followed you to your new residence, that the feelings of loneliness still haunt you, and that boredom keeps on sapping you of strength and vitality. Those things were supposed to satisfy you, but they actually don't. And as long as you're chasing after those sorts of things, you're going to be running down the road marked "hope deferred."

That's the only thing you'll find if you run down that road--the only thing that you'll get for all your trouble: hope deferred. If you want desire fulfilled, you've got to look elsewhere. And if you do that, if you earnestly seek, you'll discover that the thing you really wanted has actually been sitting right next to you all along. (Acts 17:22-29.) You can share in and enjoy a dynamic and interactive relationship with the creator of the cosmos, who because of His love for us and the overflowing abundance of His grace, sent His Son and the Holy Spirit to dwell with and in us, that we might partake of that tree of life continually, enjoying the fruits of fellowship, peace, love, and mercy, from now into eternity.

Of course I would like to go more into the "tree of life" image, and explore the context of the surrounding proverbs, and write in more careful detail about the meaning of life, but then I'd be aiming at a ten-page post, and I don't have time for that. This will have to do for now.

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God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.