When Good Destroys

Re:Verse reading–Psalm 16 (day two)
Water filling your bathtub… a good thing. Water filling your house… a destructive thing. Fire consuming wood in the fireplace…a good thing. Fire consuming a forest…a destructive thing. Sexual expression between a man and a woman in marriage…a good thing. Sexual expression whenever and with whomever you might desire…a destructive thing. Ambition for excellence guarded by loving my neighbor as myself… a good thing. Ambition for excellence with no thought for my neighbor…a destructive thing.

God’s gift of desire, even the strongest desires, is a good thing. However, every good thing requires a context, an order for it to function properly. A good desire out of order becomes a great evil and destroys lives. What can order my desires? “I have no good besides you,” (Psalm 16:2). When my desire is aimed at God as my only good, all other desires are given their proper order, their appropriate context. Water, fire, sex, ambition; all are proper joys when I am enjoying God as my only good.