On Unchecked and Excessive Desires

If we truly want to devote ourselves fully to God, then we need to take a serious, honest look at our desires — what they are and how far they go.

Desires themselves aren’t the problem. They’re part of being human. We naturally want things like life, food, knowledge, and connection with others. These are normal and even necessary. The issue is that, in both the natural, unspiritu person and even in someone who is only partly spiritually formed, these desires often aren’t properly guided or kept in check by a deeper love for God. Instead, they grow beyond healthy limits. They become self-centered, excessive, and sometimes even harmful — so much so that they can take control of a person’s entire life. When desires reach this point, they bring with them a constant sense of restlessness and inner turmoil. That’s why they need to be carefully guarded against.

To support this point, consider first that unrestrained desires always involve guilt. A person who lets their desires run free is essentially choosing to live entirely on their own terms — to follow their own will, rely only on themselves, and act as if they are their own ultimate authority. In a sense, they claim the role of God for themselves. But under a divine order, real goodness can’t exist without submission. The moment a desire rises up and overrides obedience to God, something fundamental changes in that person. It’s a shift as sudden and serious as moving from truth to falsehood, or from integrity to guilt. That’s why it’s so important to restrain our natural desires — to bring them to the point where they’re fully absorbed into one greater desire: to know and do the will of God.

Second, we should resist unhealthy desires not just because they involve guilt, but because they make us miserable. The human mind simply doesn’t work in a way that allows excessive desires to be fully and permanently satisfied. Even when they are temporarily fulfilled, they tend to create even stronger desires afterward — desires that are harder to satisfy. This creates a cycle. A mind driven by these urgent but unmet longings can never find peace or contentment. It’s constantly being pushed forward without ever finding rest or comfort.

This helps explain, in part, the misery attributed to Satan. Driven by a desire for ultimate power that can never truly be satisfied, he is described as being inwardly consumed by an unending fire. That’s not the only source of his suffering, but it’s a major one.

In this way, desires follow a universal pattern: guilt leads to misery. Isn’t that reason enough to be vigilant about guarding against excessive and uncontrolled desires?

Third, and just as important, disordered and unspiritual desires directly block the work of God’s Spirit within us. The stronger these desires are, the greater the barrier they create. God, through the Holy Spirit, would take full and immediate residence in our hearts if nothing stood in the way. But our desires often form that barrier. God loves us deeply and asks only that we remove whatever prevents Him from fully entering our hearts. Any desires or intentions of our own that don’t align with His will — because they are rooted in self rather than obedience — are incompatible with His rule within us.

So, if we want freedom from guilt and misery, if we want genuine renewal and inner liberty, and if we truly want God to reign in our hearts as our sovereign, then something must change. We must let go of these misdirected desires. That doesn’t mean eliminating all desire altogether, but rather letting go of desires that don’t align with God’s will. We should want nothing that falls outside of it, and we should resist nothing that comes to us in accordance with it.

Only in this way can God become a living, active presence within us — the guiding force behind everything we do. Our true source of life and action. Our All in All.

 

 

 

 

---

This is a revision of Part 2, Chapter 2 of Thomas C. Upham's book The Interior or Hidden Life (2nd edition 1844), written with the assistance of Microslop CoPilot. The original chapter can be found here: Remarks on unrestrained and inordinate Desires.