DESIRE & DENIAL

by Patricia Usiobaifo

The human spirit is a powerful force; it compels us to rise above the most devastating of circumstances, to hope throughout the darkest of times and to survive against the greatest odds. There is an innate quality in many of us that causes us to rebel against every restriction we have placed on us; that seeks to prove people wrong when they tell you that we are not capable of something. This drive, this desire to prove others wrong, can be an asset and a strength, but it can also be a weakness and to our detriment. It is at its best a powerful motivator, however, it is also, at its worst simply rebellion.

I have often pondered how the enemy uses our strengths against us in the most basic and subtle ways.
For many of us, when we are told we cannot or should not have something, we immediately filter that through our thought processes as being denied something which is rightfully ours to have. We do not immediately reason as to why we shouldn’t have that particular thing, that it is potentially harmful to us, to our health, our relationships or will lead to future complications, or negatively impact those around us. We seem to magnify instead the fact that we have been told “we shouldn’t”, “we can’t”, that we must deny ourselves that thing, that experience. As we focus on denying our senses, our desires, we magnify that denial and in turn our desire for it.

Take for example food.

If we were given a bottle of liquid or a bowl of substance that was clearly labelled as poison, we would not readily consume it. We would rightly refuse it because our natural thought process would tell us that it would lead to death. We would consider it insanity to readily consume that poison. However, every day of our lives, a huge number of us consume substances and liquids which we know bring death and not life to our bodies, whether it is in the form of junk food, alcohol, illicit substances, highly processed foods etc. We are bombarded with medical and scientific evidence that warns us that these things are not good for our health and wellbeing. That in many cases, the continued consumption of these products, is a direct link to sickness and disease and yet we still continue to consume them.

Often our continued consumption is because we do not see why we should have to deny ourselves that pleasure, that experience, or we struggle with the temptation, justifying our actions by lying to ourselves that just a little will not do us any harm, and yet the truth is, that the only thing we are truly denying ourselves is LIFE.

Let’s begin at least to be honest with ourselves and see things, label things, for what they truly are; if it brings life it is of God and is designed and created to be enjoyed, if it does not impart life it can only impart death, and was never intended for us to partake of.