How Important is Desire and Appetite?

How important is desire and appetite?

According to The Executive Speechwriter Newsletter (vol. 12, no. 3), "Desire kept young W. Clement Stone on Chicago's street corners selling newspapers. Desire later made him one of the wealthiest people in America as principal owner of Combined Insurance Corporation of America.

"Desire made Jim Marshall one of the most indestructible players in professional football. Marshall started 282 consecutive games and played defensive end until he was forty-two. Teammate Fran Tarkenton once described Marshall as 'the most amazing athlete to play in any sport.'

"Desire energized John Havlicek, to earn the nickname 'Mr. Perpetual Motion.' As a player for the Boston Celtics, Havlicek gave 200 percent every game for 16 straight seasons. Hustle, leadership, and guts made Havlicek a player by which others were measured. People with desire work harder, are passionate about their goals, and are driven by an intense thirst to be better." [1]

Appetite increases on empty. If I am partially hungry it means I am partially empty. When a person becomes depleted, the desire for food becomes a craving that consumes the mind and produces a devotion to that which can satisfy it. Interestingly, a partial desire is willing to divide the energy and portion it out to maintain other things in the life alongside that of food. However, when a person is starving, it willingly sacrifices everything else to have food refusing to expend energy for anything else nonessential in the life.

John the Baptist knew that the increase of Christ depended upon his personal decreasing.

John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

James records that the secret of more grace and empowerment was directly related to our increase of humility and self-debasement. In other words, if I want more power with God, be more humble. Increased humility equals increased power in Christ. 

James 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Jesus understood it well when it came to prayer. Increased effectiveness in prayer is the result of increased self-denial.

Matthew 17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

When the thrill of the spiritual in services are lost through prayerlessness, all sorts of substitutes and surrogates will be tried, such as social functions, entertainment, and alternative methods of outreach. When we incorporate unscriptural approaches, we are actually camouflaging and are making the attempt to conceal the fact that the real thing has been lost. When we become full of self it has to make up the difference in the deficiency of the Spirit. 

Today, we use donuts and coffee to get people in the Kingdom and are satisfied when they sit in the seat and sign a card. The early church used signs and wonders and the Spirit added them into the Kingdom. Church today has to use gimmicks to keep people interested while the early church just introduced them to the overwhelming power of Christ who stripped them of themselves through repentance, and hunger naturally erupted and no one had to beg people to be in church. 

The early church schedule through the week would have looked something like this. 

Monday night – prayer meeting

Tuesday – live it and witness through the day

Wednesday – prayer meeting

Thursday – in depth teaching and prayer meeting

Friday – prayer meeting

Saturday & Sunday – preaching with signs and wonders – in depth teaching – prayer meetings – evangelizing everywhere.

Today’s church

Monday night – youth fun and game night

Tuesday night – Adult discussions over refreshments

Wednesday night – Family night – adults have class and children have games and a five minute talk.

Thursday night – off night of rest and relaxation

Friday night – Family movie night

Saturday – car wash

Sunday – one service and a nice pep talk

We need to get hungry again for the supernatural! That begins when we start seeing how empty we are of God’s presence in our lives. When this realization truly hits us, we will weep and repent and begin decreasing ourselves and increasing Christ through us.

Matthew 5:6 Blessed (happy, spiritually prosperous, experiencing spiritual success) are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.  

 Experience Life Today

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[1] cited in Zig Ziglar's Life Lifters

Acting Civilized in a Volatile World - Charleston Tragedy

The heinous and horrific act of violence perpetrated on the Charleston community is unconscionable. It is now obvious this was motivated by a racist individual. He killed nine people plummeting their families and community into total despair simply because he felt it was justifiable to take the lives of people based upon their skin color.

What do we do in an aftermath of such proportions? I want to first list things we shouldn't do at a time like this before offering the solutions of what we should concentrate on accomplishing.

We must remember that the actions of a few do not speak or represent the whole. Each criminal must be held responsible for their own actions and not permit them to hold society hostage as being responsible for their actions. For example, a woman who drives her car into a lake and drowns her four children does not represent or speak for all mothers. A man who kills his wife does not speak for all husbands. A gang of certain ethnicity committing atrocities do not speak for the entire ethnic group. A young white man driven by racial hatred murdering nine black people in a church does not speak for all white people.

The community of Charleston does not need pundits, radio talk show hosts, and activists flying in from all over the country speaking inflammatory rhetoric. We need to be more responsible and realize our concern should be about healing the wounds and not pushing an agenda at the expense of stability. 

We have a choice to make in America. Permit these situations to be exploited by self-interest groups and activists looking to pimp the circumstance into a financial windfall and fame, thus creating division and deepening racial divides? Or, are we going to come together and overcome evil with good?

What needs to happen?

The families of the victims and their community need support, comfort, and an outpouring of love from all of us. This is not the hour for screaming in the streets and inciting violence ruining businesses and property. It is keeping it in focus - others do not have to pay for one person's decision. That person is held accountable and not a whole race, religion, or ethnicity. We must operate with a degree of civility and reasoning without the knee-jerk reactions that are stirred by those who have hidden agendas.

Are their cultural environments conducive to bad behavior?

Of course there is. Racial, religious, and ethnic intolerance is found in every culture and nation of the world to some degree. Things grow because there is soil to sustain it. If you change the soil then what is produced changes. Changing the soil through proper education and the instilling of morals will create a culture of valuing each other which in turn produces a bedrock for societal cohesiveness. A fish thrives in water because it is an environment that contains everything it needs to survive. Take the fish out of its environment and it dies. Will racism and all forms of bigotry be totally eradicated? No, but we can have an environment that creates little to no possibility for growth, thus isolating their perspectives and ideologies beyond the moat of reasoning. This will translate into loss of influence and opportunity for these who propagate such intolerable thinking that leads to despicable behavior.   

The importance of education  is indisputable in its value to constructing a generation. Information becomes the hinge that swings the door of opportunity to a land of progress. However, as with all things in life, this demands balance, because when educating people and yet forgetting the instruction of morals is inadvertently creating  a danger to national and international stability. Think about Nazi Germany as an example. It was the land of some of the most educated minds and technology such as Einstein and Mercedes-Benz and yet it produced a Hitler. Educators today must realize the importance of serving students information and increasing their knowledge, but also assisting them in developing their character, which is necessary in being a positive contributor to society.

Steve Johnson wrote

The ideal that schools should produce people who are both smart and good has a venerable tradition in the United States. Most children in 19th century America learned their ABC’s from McGuffey Readers, which were replete with stories of honesty, self-reliance, and courage. The Readers’ author, William H. McGuffey, was a professor of moral philosophy at the University of Virginia. But by the early 20th century, schools were beginning to lose their comfort with such moral indoctrination. As America became a more pluralistic society, it was harder to come up with a shared notion of good behavior. Given the lack of agreement, moral education, it was argued, was best left to the individual child’s family and religious institution. By the late 1970s, character development had all but disappeared as a goal of American public schools.

My contention is that there is a common meeting ground for all people to agree on in a pluralistic society. It will also promote moral behavior that reaches across all ethnic, racial, cultural, and religious lines. There is a shared ethic that can be the guiding principle for all. I’m using the above example concerning the United States, but it is applicable for all peoples or all nations of the earth. What is this common denominator that can erase the tension of offense and conflict of personal philosophy and religious slants? It is none other than the Golden Rule – treat others the way you want to be treated.

What if parents along with the educators of every nation adopted this philosophy of life? Surely all would agree with it and it would be the bridge and connection that would provide a seamless uninterrupted flow of unity becoming a powerful force in affecting the next generation. Think about it! What if children and youth are being taught to filter every interaction with another human being through the golden rule before they act? It becomes the basis of life and what they build their life upon and the moral compass that provides concrete direction for their lives. Can you imagine a child on the playground who emotionally becomes riled at another classmate, but before hitting the other, the voice of instruction sounds in their head “treat others the way you want to be treated.” If the child persists beyond the conscience of restraint that has been taught since birth and assisted by educators, and hits the other, the educator can immediately ask the perpetrator “is that how you want to be treated?” Use it as a teaching moment before the punishment is meted out.

Would this be hard to implement?

Not at all! Let’s unify and begin a media blitzing campaign through all available media outlets and take advantage of this small world created by technology. We can use the golden rule principle which is found in every major religion, culture, and the constitutions of nations. They all have it in one form or another. All that is needed is a network of people to get the job done – are you one of them?

Do You Want it After you Get It?

People often believe that success is getting what you want. However, wanting what you got after you get it should be more of an indicator of success. For example, if a guy invests all of his time, money, and effort, in winning the heart of a girl, only to realize after he gets her that she makes him miserable. He got what he wanted but he didn’t want what he got!

How many people have made it their chief aim of life to become rich only to realize after achieving this goal that it doesn't satisfy and often dissolves them into misery. They got what they wanted, but they didn't want what they got. We have all heard the saying "not everything that glitters is gold." Everything has a surface, but what is seen outwardly is not necessarily what's underneath. It pays to investigate and test things first, before investing in something that mesmerizes the sight but is hollowed out of its substance. The things of this world have an uncanny ability to create an impression to satisfy and deliver, and are powerful enough to persuade people of something they cannot perform.  

Biblical examples are abundant. The prodigal son believed that dishonoring his father was worth the achievement of receiving one third of the inheritance before the appropriate time. His view of success was getting the money and doing what he wanted to do with it. Later, he realized he got what he wanted but didn’t want what he got. 

Judas would be a prime example of this. He plotted, schemed, and risked it all, to fulfill his getting of the 30 pieces of silver. Judas thought personal success was in personal wealth only to fatefully realize that after he got what he wanted, he didn’t want what he got. 

The drug addict was not always addicted. The person may have been introduced to a narcotic at a party and the desire to "fit in" and be a part of the crowd overwhelmed their judgment. Or, the pressures of life was stealing hope of a better tomorrow and decided the drug would alleviate the stress of adversity. However, the end result of this indulgence was less than glamorous. The suicidal tendencies, family break-ups, isolation, and the never ending enslavement to the drug has left them with one foot in a grave and one foot slipping down the slope of life. They got what they wanted, but they didn't want what they got. 

We must be careful in what we want. This is why it is so important for the Word of God to absorb into our hearts. We will then desire what he desires, want what he wants, do what he says to do. Happiness will become the perfume and fragrance of our obedience according to Jesus when he announced the Beatitudes. Obedience achieves the goals God has for us – that my friend is true success!  

Matthew 6:33

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.