The Problem With Disordered Desire
When we’re led by disordered desire, our supercharged need for gratification can rationalize even the worst behavior in an election cycle.
New research from the University of Michigan sheds light on a troubling trend: the rise of political anger and cynicism. The study suggests that the trend is fueled by exposure to hostile and uncivil attacks on social media platforms. These online engagements distort people’s interpretations of political information.
Whether online or in person, the uncivil behavior we witness in election cycles is almost always rationalized by strong feelings of disordered desire. For instance, a regular person—let’s call her Mary—gives in to the feeling of being under siege. Mary looks for a politician to act as a savior, to protect her from the hordes storming the gates of her cherished norms. She has a vague sense she is being manipulated by politicians’ lofty promises, but what recourse does she really have? Her life seems so little in comparison to the huge and powerful political machines. So Mary reaches for a rescuer, someone who will fulfill her desires for security and influence. Needing to get her way causes her to belittle friends and family members who disagree with her political views.
Disordered desire is nothing new. It frequently provoked hostility in the early Church:
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.
—James 4:1-2
Desires, in that text, means something like supercharged need for gratification. Does that sound familiar? We see this on display in politics, current events, relationships, even the Church, every day.
James further explains:
Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
—James 1:14-15
The New International Version translates the Greek word epithymia as evil desire. The word commonly means lust—strong, out-of-line, inordinate desire. Lust spurs actions that exploit other people, turning them into objects. No matter how strongly rationalized, lust can never be the path to God’s goodness.
When we feel under siege and dominated by lust, everything seems up for grabs. It seems we should do whatever it takes to win. Our own supercharged need for gratification allows us to rationalize harsh political discourse and the right to dehumanize and conquer our “enemies.” But at this point, we have already lost sight of what is most important—our hope, confidence and trust in God.
There Is Another Way.
Jesus exemplifies another way for us to live as his followers, one that leads us to say: There is nothing I want to conquer; no one I want to control or own. Jesus, safe in the love and will of his Father, never felt under siege. Not when people tried to kill him for doing good, not at surprising and unjust arrest, not in disrespectful trials, not in dehumanizing beatings, not in being led up to Calvary to the cross.
Moreover, Jesus’ words and actions modeled invitation, not coercion. In our political discourse, we must seek a similar heart posture. Lesslie Newbigin captures this spirit and intent in Truth and Authority in Modernity:
I have been called and commissioned, through no merit of mine, to carry this message, to tell this story, to give this invitation. It has no coercive intent. It is an invitation from the one who loved you and gave himself for you.
As we approach the 2024 presidential election, the stats we read about out-of-control, angry people don’t have to include us. Instead, Jesus invites us to cultivate well-ordered desires that seek the good of others.
Let me say it one more time: We are not under siege; we are under the care of the wise love of God. We don’t have to live in fear. Instead, we can count on this Divine promise:
I will be your God through all your lifetime, yes, even when your hair is white with age. I made you and I will care for you. I will carry you along and be your Savior.
—Isaiah 46:4, TLB