“Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” — C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Like most teenagers, I struggled with my desires, especially as I began to grapple with how my faith impacted my life. I took Jesus’ promise literally that “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again” (John 4:14).

If Christ’s promise of ultimate and eternal satisfaction is true, then why do I still struggle with desires? I wanted Christ, but I also wanted friends and fun, love and approval, success and enjoyment of life. These desires must be idolatrous, I reasoned, because their very existence proved that somehow I wasn’t drinking enough of Christ to be satisfied only in Him. My thinking led to always looking forward to the “next season” of life where I hoped to no longer struggle. It didn’t take long to discover that no matter the season of life, these desires never go away. There’s always a “next thing” our discontent hearts want.