Desire

The Present: Reflections on Instructions from Screwtape

/ joethewaller / Leave a comment

timothy-dykes-600409-unsplash

In chapter fifteen of The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape writes to Wormwood that humans must be made to look to the future and must be kept from any focus upon eternity or upon the present. Screwtape, a wiser, older demon than Wormwood, explains that “nearly all vices are rooted in the future. Gratitude looks to the past and love to the present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead” (1). By keeping humans focused on the future they will be kept away from the designs of the Enemy, who desires humans to focus upon the present, upon eternity, upon himself, and upon their present work.

Continue reading →

Fulfillment

/ joethewaller / Leave a comment

kelly-sikkema-422183-unsplash

Elusive fulfillment, promising much,
Master of anticipation and lust,
Warping a want till it feels like a must,
How many more must be crushed in your clutch?
Questioning you grows progressively more
Treacherous, for you twist my desiring
From pure motives in holy retiring
To meaner modes. I cease to see the war.

Awaken me, O Spirit. Help me hear
The still, small voice reminding me the way
To fullness is to seek a higher end.
My God, you reign. Teach me to love and fear,
To trust in your provision for this day,
And to abide in thee, most faithful friend.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

My Heart’s Desire and Plea

/ joethewaller / Leave a comment

My Heart's Desire and Plea picture

I long for you to fin’lly see
The stains of this iniquity,
To recognize the travesty,
To turn to Christ our hope and plea.
I pray for you to one day be
Reborn a child of royalty
So that you would be ever free
From sin’s eternal poverty.
The curse’s pow’r no more remains;
Christ’s blood has cleansed the deepest stains.
He condescended to our pains,
Ascended, now forever reigns.
So you need not inhabit holes
Hewn by the hands of hostage souls.
Now turn your gaze to higher goals
As all creation now extols
The one who gave the beggar sight,
Forgave the wrong and showed the right,
Took up the sword and won the fight,
The incarnation of the light.