Coffee with The Pastor - Self-centered Desires and Covetousness

Self-centeredness and Covetousness, left unchecked, can cause great destruction. Likewise, with unchecked sinfulness in our lives the results are the same. We must work diligently to extract these from our lives by the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. If we dont, they will destroy us.

You see, some would say, "Well,  just stop stealing, or cheating or killing or drugging or drinking and everything will be alright." It's not that simple. Those things just listed are not the real problems; they are simply the symptoms of the problem. The real trouble is not in our hands, the real trouble is in our hearts.

We enter into arguments and refuse to settle them because of our own evil desires that battle within us. We have affairs and take someone else's spouse because of our own evil desires that battle within us. We cheat on our taxes; We steal from out workplace; We enter into gossip and character assassination against one another because of our own evil desires that battle within us. We enter into physical fights because of our own evil desires that battle within us. We drink and party to the point of destroying our credibility and health because of our own evil desires that battle within us. While we try to blame the marriage, the alcohol, the drug, the boss, the system, the bully, or the parents who raised us...the truth is much simpler...IT'S OUR OWN EVIL DESIRES THAT BATTLE WITHIN US!

So, what must change are the desires that exist within us. We cannot change our hearts by changing our actions. We must change our actions by changing our hearts. When our "want to" changes, our "will do" follows. Simply put, people will do what they want to do. So, if you want to change what you do, you must do the work of changing what you want to do.

Think about it. The alternative is that we destroy our lives and perhaps the lives of others around us because of our own evil desires that battle within us.

"What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God." (James 4:1-2 NIV)