The Journey of Desire
Searching For the Life We’ve Only Dreamed Of
by John Eldredge
Summary
Eldredge argues that the Christian life is meant to be one of passion—a constant longing for more. Yet, many Christians have given up on passion, and many tragically believe that it is pleasing to God when they do. As if God’s intention was for them to spend their lives performing mindless and unfulfilling tasks.
Eldredge argues that there is no Biblical basis for such a belief. Rather, Jesus came to give us life in abundance. The Biblical story must be viewed as the Great Romance, full of love and adventure. The trajectory of human history will ultimately lead us back to the beauty and purpose experienced back in the Garden of Eden. And, to that end, we need a healing of desire.
Author’s Website: The Journey of Desire - Book by John Eldredge
Favorite Quotes
“Something awful has happened, something terrible. Something worse, even, than the fall of man. For in that greatest of all tragedies, we merely lost Paradise—and with it, everything that made life worth living. What has happened since is unthinkable: we’ve gotten used to it.”
“Christianity refuses to budge from the fact that man was made for pleasure, that his beginning and his end is a paradise, and that the goal of living is to find Life.”
“The greatest enemy of holiness is not passion; it is apathy.”
““We must look back and see the Bible for what it is—the greatest romance ever written. God creates mankind for intimacy with himself, as his beloved. We see it right at the start, when he gives us the highest freedom of all—the freedom to reject him. The reason is obvious: love is possible only when it is freely chosen. True love is never constrained; our hearts cannot be taken by force. So God sets out to woo his beloved and make her his queen.”
“…we must have a measure of beauty in our lives proportionate to our affliction. No, more. Much more. Is this not God’s prescription for us? Just take a look around. The sights and sounds, the aromas and sensations—the world is overflowing with beauty. God seems to be rather enamored with it. Gloriously wasteful.”
“Bombarded by thousands of messages each day, every one of them marked urgent, we leave behind the truly important things, the only refuge for our hearts.”
