“I want.”

Could there be a stronger phrase? There is a magnetic pull between our desire and its object. It is an appetite in search of fulfillment. We use our eyes and our minds to consider what is not yet ours and how we can make it ours as quickly and as easily as possible. Eve saw that the fruit was pleasing to the eyes. She was magnetically attracted to it. She considered how to make it her own. All of this pulled her attention away from God and toward her own self. She stopped considering what pleased God most and began to contemplate what would please Eve most. Rather than saying “No” to herself, she said “No” to God. She knew what He had said about that fruit, but she was no longer interested in listening to Him. She wanted what she wanted and she was willing to do whatever it took to get it. Simply put, Eve forgot God.

When Satan tempts the eyes of Jesus, he shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and all their glory. All these Kingdoms were promised to the Christ. But Satan offers Jesus the shortcut. In order to inherit the nations, the Christ would have to suffer, be killed, and arise on the third day (cf. Psalm 82/81). All that Satan required is that Jesus would fall before Satan and reverence him; no suffering, no death.

But Jesus didn’t want the glory of the nations. He wanted His Father’s glory. And that glory was the glory of the cross. He must be lifted up on the cross. He must be buried as a grain of wheat. He knew what was most pleasing to His Father, “to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good.” (Deut. 10:12) Jesus knew that His Father was good and His Father’s will was good. He knew that Sonship required suffering; that to inherit means preferring the painful to the pleasant. (Heb. 12) True love only truly shows itself in suffering. How much you are willing to suffer for another shows how much you love the other.

“Let us be merry,” says the siren song of the world. “Indulge yourself. Only you know what’s best for you. Pursue happiness. Pursue personal fulfillment. Avoid suffering at all costs. Don’t let anyone deprive you of what you need. You only live once. Enjoy it to the full!” How many times in the midst of hardship and suffering don’t we say to ourselves, “I just want…” or “Why can’t I just…” We don’t want what God has to give us for our good. We don't want Him to prepare us to inherit His eternal life. We just want what we want in the moment. Self-indulgence is ultimately shortsightedness.

How often we are afraid to actually remember God, to keep Him before our eyes, to bring Him to mind at all times and in every place; because we know that, if we remember Him, the cross is waiting for us. To say “Yes” to His will means saying “No” to our own twisted, ingrown will. And that will sting at first.

The remedy is to see the big picture. Our Father wants what is truly good for us, not what is easiest or most enjoyable in the short-term. He has arranged everything that we might inherit eternal life as his heirs. He has given us everything we need not just to survive the temporary hardship, but to thrive in it. He wants us to live and reign with Him in His Kingdom. Christ wants to be the firstborn of many brothers. But in order to be glorified with Him, we must suffer with Him (Rom 8:17). We must die with Him so that we might live with Him.