The Problem of Desire

Is our desire for a good life a sin?  How can it be evil when we desire to do good and strive with all our energy to bring it about.  Such desire cannot be evil.  It only turns to evil when we do it out of our self-gratification, to boost our own self-image at the detriment to others.


Elder Macarius says,

It is nonsense to say that all desire is sinful, that we should never ask God to fulfill our wishes, that we should feebly abandon ourselves to what comes along.  Surely to act in this manner would be contrary to reason, to human nature, and to Holy Scripture.  Desire is not a sin; only the desire of evil is wrong.  How could man belong to the kingdom of the Word, be reasonable creature and free––if all desires were wrong?... You are not a log or a stone; nor were you ever intended to be...

Reference: Russian Letter of Spiritual Direction,  p 38