A Proposal

Here is the proposal that I am working on. And out.

Holiness is Desire in Submission to Wise Love

I realized that my problem is not Desire, but rather selfish Desire. My problem is not Desire but rather Desire that slips the bounds of Love.

Desire:
It would seem that Desire is perhaps necessary for relationship. Without the element of desire, why would one being pursue another. Without some sort of desire why would anything happen at all. Desire is necessary, despite many Religion's (including Religious Christianity) attempts to expunge it from our midst. Despite the modern thought, discontent is not necessary for change. Heaven is not a senile mindlessness where a lack of discontent produces no change and no progression. Heaven is a dynamic growth from desire to desire where each fulfillment produces the hope of new Desire to be (successfully) pursued. God without Desire, though Modern, is not biblical and is indeed the spoilsport portrayed by modern media.

Love:
I have written in depth on various definitions of Love. I am not speaking of Love in any of the ways that it is used and abused in our culture. The irony is that most often what is meant by the word "love" in our modern lexicon would more properly be termed desire. "I love pizza" actually means "I desire pizza". Even in relationships the word "love" often means "desire". We often function under the self deception that the people we love are the people we would sacrifice for. In truth what we typically mean is that we desire that person in some way. We desire time with them. We desire their words, or their smell, or their looks, or their money etc. I will go into the fruit of this dynamic in a further post but for now this progression will have to suffice: This desire when unfulfilled leads to various forms of co-dependency and further into resentment.

Love however, does not seek its own. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.1 Cr 13:4-8

Wise Love:
or Informed Love. On reflection, I realized that this addition to the proposal, though a little bit

clunky, removes the potential for misunderstanding. "Love" when pursued out of ignorance can
be disastrous. Ask the mother who indulges every whim of her child and then wonders why the
same child is unfulfilled in every endeavor. Ask the well meaning father who keeps every feeling
hidden from his son and then wonders why his son is unfulfilled in his marriage.
I want to give it more thought but I believe that maybe this modifier of the proposal is the reason
that the Bible often seems to equate foolishness with wickedness. This also reveals one of the
several benefits of Bible study. We see through a glass dimly and so sometimes it is helpful to
have Wiser Love than ours that we can submit to, through faith without the vital knowledge that
we often lack.

Holiness:
What is Holiness if not the highest expression of the Law of the Spirit. What is the Law of the
Spirit if not the pursuit of Love. First of God and then of our neighbours, as ourselves. It is Love
that keeps me from sin and further, prompts me to acts of goodness. Ideally it is not fear or pride
that keeps me from murder but the Love of God poured out on my heart. (but can that Love not
also lead to violence for the Love of my family) It is Love (respect if you like) of those around me
that helps me to tame my tongue. It is a preference for my brother that keeps me from stealing
his things, a desire for his good that keeps me from coveting. It is Love for the women around me
keeps me from submitting to the Desire of lust. It is Love that... You get the idea.



So that is the first draft of my proposal

Holiness = Desire in Submission to Informed Love