Desire

I read this last night as well (after a long run). Lately, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what I really want, and I thought Elder Oak's talk was very helpful in thinking about desires.

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"Desire" - Dallin H. Oaks

--Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming.

--The Book of Mormon contains many teachings on the importance of desire.

--Desire, labor, and faith.

--Another great teaching on desire, especially on what should be our ultimate desire, occurs in the experience of the Lamanite king being taught by the missionary Aaron. The king in mighty prayer declared, “I will give away all my sins to know thee … and be saved at the last day” (verse 18). With that commitment and that identification of his ultimate desire, his prayer was answered miraculously.

--Many scriptures speak of what we desire in terms of what we seek. “He that seeketh me early shall find me, and shall not be forsaken” (D&C 88:83). “Seek ye earnestly the best gifts” (D&C 46:8). “He that diligently seeketh shall find” (1 Nephi 10:19). “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (D&C 88:63).

--Readjusting our desires to give highest priority to the things of eternity is not easy. We are all tempted to desire that worldly quartet of property, prominence, pride, and power. We might desire these, but we should not fix them as our highest priorities. (I think this is what I'm struggling with most right now. It makes me think of Elder Holland's talk "The First Great Commandment" and how he talks about the situation with Christ and Peter, Christ asking, "Do you really love me?" I am asking myself the same question - "Do you really love me more than all of this?")

--Those whose highest desire is to acquire possessions fall into the trap of materialism. They fail to heed the warning “Seek not after riches nor the vain things of this world” (Alma 39:14; see also Jacob 2:18).

--All of us face potential traps that will prevent progress toward our eternal destiny. If our righteous desires are sufficiently intense, they will motivate us to cut and carve ourselves free from addictions and other sinful pressures and priorities that prevent our eternal progress. (Is it really that easy? Maybe it's not that easy, but it is that simple..?)

--We should remember that righteous desires cannot be superficial, impulsive, or temporary. They must be heartfelt, unwavering, and permanent. So motivated, we will seek for that condition described by the Prophet Joseph Smith, where we have “overcome the evils of [our lives] and lost every desire for sin.”⁵ That is a very personal decision.

--Neal A. Maxwell: “When people are described as ‘having lost their desire for sin,’ it is they, and they only, who deliberately decided to lose those wrong desires by being willing to ‘give away all [their] sins’ in order to know God. Therefore, what we insistently desire, over time, is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity.”⁶ (Interesting that I think I just get really attached to worldly things, as well as spiritual things. That being said, I have realized through my own experiences that worldly attachments leave me feeling empty and unsatisfied and anxious, while spiritual things seem to uplift and fill me with hope, light, and love.)

--As important as it is to lose every desire for sin, eternal life requires more. To achieve our eternal destiny, we will desire and work for the qualities required to become an eternal being.