"...and he will give you the desires of your heart..."

I have a number of friends who say that the only "desire in our heart" worth having is the Lord's will for our lives.

And if an "opportunity" comes up...let's say, "McDonald's is hiring"...and we don't go down and fill out an application...we're in "rebellion" against "the Lord's will for our life."

I've been around for a few decades, and while I still have a lot to learn, I think I have a pretty good handle on what's in my heart.

And I also know that a lot of believers would say "God will use your working at McDonald's to achieve His purpose, and by surrendering your selfish desires and working for the Kingdom, He will receive glory and that should be the desire of your heart, and if it isn't, you're just selfish and shouldn't expect God to care about you."

I'm not kidding...I know people who HAVE said pretty much that.

So this is NOT an invitation for my fellow DUers to declare God a "fictional character"...we have enough of that here on an ongoing basis without my opening another window of opportunity.

I'm asking believers... what does this Scripture mean to you? Non-believers are welcome to respond too...all I ask is that you respect my beliefs as I respect yours, and any Christ-bashing will just put you on my ignore list.

Which scripture?

The "Bible" is of course many books, written over many centuries in at least two languages.

Bill Maher stated that the Bile is "just stories." Well, some of it at least must be understood in such a way, and many of the classical theologians are on record as recognizing as much. I remember reading St. Augustine for instance, who stated that he could only accept Christianity after other Christian scholars had strongly reassured him that many of the books of scripture were not to be read literally.

On the other hand there are books that when I read them, I cannot help but feel that, whether they are to be interpreted literally or not, that they do seem to have been divinely inspired. Of course I feel that way about a good many other writings too that are definitely not considered to be Scriptures, passages from William Blake, and Henry David Thoreau, and Annie Dillard, and Feodore Dostoevsky, and even Friedrich Nietzsche (despite his confirmed atheism) come to mind.

And I recall a statement by Mahatma Gandhi:

"Yes, I am a Hindu, but I am a Hindu, and a Muslim, and a Christian, and a Jew."

I certainly don't have final answers, but I cannot disbelieve, and I find scripture as a guide, albeit an unreliable guide.

Humility? Compassion? Ignore threats?

Almost as if people don't like to be threatened.