What do you want? What do you really want?
We all want something. And even when you’ve gotten that thing you hoped for, how long until your eyes start to drift to the next thing? Wanting becomes a game of measurement: you’re either behind or struggling to keep up.
Maybe it’s not fame, but it’s significance among your peers.
Maybe it’s not wealth, but it’s security or freedom for any scenario.
Maybe it’s not luxury, but it’s feeling valuable and special.
Desires are more than innocent dreams or personality quirks. When left unchecked, desires become your sole source of joy and tunnel vision for your life.
The world’s advice to follow your heart flies in the face of God’s Word. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
King Solomon had supernatural wisdom from God Himself, yet he let his heart’s desires overpower him. He understood God’s command to avoid marrying foreign women because they would turn his heart to other gods, yet “he clung to these in love” (1 Kings 11:2b).
Check your heart. What does it want? Be honest with yourself. You can usually tell what your heart truly desires when someone receives something you didn’t get, when you feel like a failure, or when you’re expected to do something you don’t like. For Solomon, it was the latter. He couldn’t reconcile his obedience with his heart’s desires.
Imagine the nagging feeling Solomon had when doing what he knew was wrong. When the Holy Spirit’s conviction feels like nagging and not freedom, that’s when you know where your heart’s treasures truly lie.
Even on your best days, when you have everything you could possibly want, just know that Solomon had more.
Solomon had a stockpile of wisdom (1 Kings 4:29). He had more riches than any other king on earth (1 Kings 10:23). He had fame that spread among all nations (1 Kings 4:34). Splendor, peace, wealth, affirmation—Solomon had it all.
You think it would be enough. Yet, Solomon, in all of his glory, wealth, and fame, wrote, “I kept my heart from no pleasure… then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:10b–11).
Jesus says in Matthew, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26a). What you want will never be enough. It’s not because those things aren’t good, but because Jesus has something better to offer you: Himself.
How are you measuring your happiness? What do you need to gain to feel like you’re secure, successful, and content?
At best, unchecked hearts are a trap—we become slaves to our desires.
At worst, they destroy us—our souls deteriorate until the only thing that’s left is unmet desires and a constant striving to be enough.
You don’t need more. You don’t need to maintain. You need a submitted heart that’s renewed in Christ. And God promises to give you a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26), one that’s defined by Christ’s work on the cross (Galatians 2:20) with desires rooted in the Lord’s delight (Psalm 37:4).
Want to dive deeper? Check out our sermon series guide on Kings of Judah, or watch the most recent sermon from our Kings of Judah sermon series.
