As we saw yesterday, we are living souls. That is, we are living desire. To be alive is to desire. When we talk about living we are talking about desiring.
Humans are living souls, but so are the animals. We have desires and so do they.
Genesis 1:24. And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures [souls] according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.
So what separates us from animals? The image of God. And the desires we have that flow from the imago dei. Humans desire love, justice, grace, forgiveness, righteousness, honor, security- in short we desire things that are bigger than us.
Our spirit of life was breathed into us by God. Therefore our desires image God’s desires. Yes we have base physical desires, but unlike the animals, our physical desires reflect deeper emotional and spiritual desires.
This truth becomes very important if we want to understand how to live, and how to live with and from desire. We always choose what we desire. Our affections drive our transformation. In short, we become what we love (we’ll come back to this later).
2 Corinthians 3:18. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
We are transformed into Christ by beholding Christ, worshiping him. If “to live is Christ,” then living is desiring Christ. Letting all of our lesser desires point us to a deeper desire for the glory of Christ. And then letting that fulfilled desire for Christ transform all of our lesser desires along the journey, or “from one degree of glory to another.”
