Desiring Jesus – The Kingdom Curriculum XIV (2)

Desiring Jesus

“You shall not covet.” Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21

And He said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:15

Desire the Right Things

How do we guard against covetousness? Learn to desire the right things. If we work at nurturing desire for God and His Law, we shall always find contentment in His presence, and in walking in His way. When we are filled with the joy and pleasure promised those who dwell in the presence of the Lord (Ps. 16:11), we won’t be distracted by lesser things that seek to draw our delight away from the Lord.

Desiring Christ is a matter of seeing Him in His exalted beauty, contemplating all He has done and is doing, and meditating on His words and works. It is not without good reason that the Apostle Paul commanded us to set our minds on the things that are above, where Christ is seated in the heavenly places (Col. 3:1-3). What is it about fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Ps. 16:11) that we don’t find alluring? We sing, “Jesus is all the world to me…” “You are my all in all…” and more of the same, but we act like carving out time to be with Jesus is not as appealing as sleeping, watching TV, or pursuing other experiences or things. But if we once master the discipline of desiring Christ, contemplating His beauty, and entering into His glory, we’ll see how quickly earthly longings will pale into insignificance.

The more we set our minds on heavenly realities, the more we will train our hearts to love Jesus and to find our deepest satisfaction in Him. And when that happens, we shall not be easily drawn away from desiring the Lord to coveting things. We guard against all covetousness by learning to desire that which alone can bring satisfaction to our souls. Set your mind on Jesus, and your mind won’t wander after and pine for lesser things.

The truly happy person is the one who meditates on the Law of God day by day (Ps. 1.1, 2). Order your copy of The Law of God today and take up this discipline with joy. Go to www.MyParuchia.com, point your browser to “Publications,” then click on the drop-down option, “Waxed Tablet Publications.”

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore.

T.M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.