Citizen Columns
Question
Why does denial of our appetites play such a large role in every faith?
Answer
Because unbridled satisfaction of appetites keeps us focused on ourselves and not on God. Appetites, even the most normal and legitimate, can be like a mirage in a desert, obscuring reality and deceiving us into thinking that if we just satisfy this desire for food, drink, pleasure, success or whatever else we crave at the moment, we'll be happy. But of course this pleasure evaporates almost immediately. And so the powerful pull of appetites keeps us locked in a
perpetual treadmill of desire and satisfaction that blocks out the light and wonder of God and God's world. It also keeps us from seeing the needs of others. Until we start trying to deny those appetites we won't realize 1) how bound we are by them and 2) that the deepest human appetite is for the living God.
Our God is a "jealous God" who gives himself fully only to those who are prepared to love him, and him alone, with all their heart, and all their mind and all their strength (Deuteronomy 6:5; Mark 12:30). Our spiritual life cannot deepen as long as our appetites take first place.
This is the meaning the famous fruit that Adam and Eve ate. They desired the fruit for itself and thus separated satisfaction of their appetite from their relationship with God. And the result was separation from God. This doesn't mean the fruit was bad. Christianity radically rejects any denial of the fundamental goodness of the created world and of our appetites. By becoming incarnate - "in the flesh" - God in Christ blesses the material world and renounces pure spirituality. But disordered appetites, separated from love of God and obedience to him, have kept us from the fullness of life that God intended. As the Orthodox churches sing on Easter night, "Let us purify our senses, and we shall see Christ shining in the radiant light of his
resurrection."
Father John Jillions
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