The Journey of Desire
November 2018
The Journey of Desire
Eldredge, John. The Journey of Desire. Thomas Nelson, 2000.
“The Journey of Desire” is one of John Eldredge’s earlier books. It was written before his bestseller “Wild at Heart,” and well before his rise to Christian fame, which makes people forget about it when they consider his work and his ministry. Which is unfortunate, because in my opinion this book lays a foundation for all of his other teachings.
“Journey of Desire” was written very soon after the death of Eldredge's ministry partner Brent Curtis, and it balances his vast head knowledge with his struggles to navigate the ache in his own soul. It is a vulnerable book, diving into grief as he experiences it. Through this vulnerability, and the courage to look desire in the eye, Eldredge lays a foundation for the Christian faith that goes far deeper than many others may want to wander. “Journey of Desire” is so foundational that it should be read and understood by anyone who calls themselves a follower of Jesus, especially artists.
Created as an antidote for the Christian tendency to deaden our hearts and call it sanctification, Eldredge first develops an argument for the importance of desire in the Christian faith, and then shows us how our desires ultimately point us to God. We were created to be filled and sustained by God, but as a result of the fall we all seek to be filled by other things. Woven into the book is a narrative of a sea lion who is living in the desert. He dreams of the sea, but doesn’t even know if it is real, much like our doubts and struggles to seek God with our lives. We are all like the sea lion, we were not made for the desert that is this world, we were made to be in harmonious relationship with God. But to have desires proves so dangerous for so many people: desire leads us into addiction, failure, or deep disappointment. Motivational speakers may call us to pursue our desires, promising wealth and happiness as the result but Eldredge is much more honest. He does not promise a life of all desires fulfilled, in fact he promises the opposite, saying that a true life of desire is to live in the tension of our disappointment while knowing that a day will come when there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Then and only then will we be truly filled. Until then, it is not sanctification to quell our desires and kill our hearts - the opposite is true. To live a holy life we must desire fully. We must embrace the deep joys of our lives, but we must also make room for those deep disappointments, and learn to grieve on a daily basis.
Like all of John Eldredge’s work, this book uses arguments from popular media and classical literature, showing the author’s deep understanding of the power of story. Though the book was not intended to speak directly to artists, “The Journey of Desire” speaks deeply to my artists soul because it speaks to my struggle as an artist as well as a Christian. It is possible to create something beautiful, entertaining, or marketable that does not touch down into the ache of the human condition. It is possible to create “dead art,” the way it is possible to quell our human desires. But like “The Journey of Desire” says, this deadened life actually keeps us, and our art, further from God than if we take authentic risks and are willing to show the depths of our soul’s ache.