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The Gift of Thorns: Jesus, the Flesh, and the War for Our Wants
Today's follower of Jesus exists at a moment in history when our desires, longings, and wants are being weaponized against us by cultural, spiritual, and relational forces. "Follow your heart" and "You do you" has become our moment's mantras. The result, for too many, is feeling torn asunder by the raging desires within. What do we do with our desire? What about our unwanted desires? And how do we cultivate desires which bring life and freedom and lead to Christ? The Gift of Thorns, by A. J. Swoboda, addresses these questions and more.
The path forward is anything but easy. It is assumed by too many in the Christian community that desire is in and of itself bad or dangerous and must be crucified for simply existing. Desire is demonic for some. But, for many others--particularly in the secular West--desire must be followed through and through. This side deifies desire. But these two options sidestep the joy in the great challenge of finding God in our desire. There exists an ancient and sacred way that is forged around the life, wisdom, and power of Jesus and his Spirit. In short, what makes a follower of Christ is not whether or not we have desires. Rather, it is what we do with the desires we have.
Near the end of the story of humanity's rebellion, the theme of "thorns" is introduced. As readers will discover, the thematic repetition of "thorns" pops up over and over throughout the Bible. What are the thorns for? They will be, in the words of God, "for you" (Gen. 3:18). The premise of this book is that a world where we do not get all that we want is, well, the greatest gift ever.
The path forward is anything but easy. It is assumed by too many in the Christian community that desire is in and of itself bad or dangerous and must be crucified for simply existing. Desire is demonic for some. But, for many others--particularly in the secular West--desire must be followed through and through. This side deifies desire. But these two options sidestep the joy in the great challenge of finding God in our desire. There exists an ancient and sacred way that is forged around the life, wisdom, and power of Jesus and his Spirit. In short, what makes a follower of Christ is not whether or not we have desires. Rather, it is what we do with the desires we have.
Near the end of the story of humanity's rebellion, the theme of "thorns" is introduced. As readers will discover, the thematic repetition of "thorns" pops up over and over throughout the Bible. What are the thorns for? They will be, in the words of God, "for you" (Gen. 3:18). The premise of this book is that a world where we do not get all that we want is, well, the greatest gift ever.
239 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 20, 2024
About the author
A.J. Swoboda
17 books177 followersA. J. Swoboda (PhD, University of Birmingham) pastors Theophilus Church in urban Portland, Oregon. He is executive director of the Seminary Stewardship Alliance, a consortium of Christian higher education institutions dedicated to reconnecting Christians with the biblical call to care for God's creation. Swoboda also teaches biblical studies, theology, and church history at Portland Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary, among others. He is an award-winning author or editor of nine books and speaks regularly at conferences, retreats, churches, and seminars. Visit his website and blog at www.ajswoboda.com.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
May 30, 2025
Profound. Compelling. Beautiful. Comforting. I loved listening to the audio version read by the author but this definitely requires hard copy to keep and revisit. He sheds light on Biblical themes of desire that all of us need to know and live in.
I feel the title is slightly misleading because the focus isn't on thorns. However, the subtitle is very accurate, the reason I picked up the book, and the reason everyone needs this message.
I feel the title is slightly misleading because the focus isn't on thorns. However, the subtitle is very accurate, the reason I picked up the book, and the reason everyone needs this message.
March 26, 2024
I don't even know where to begin with this book.
Swoboda provides an imminently practical and pastoral approach to the subject of desire while maintaining a high level of Biblical and Theological rigor. This book is accessible enough for anyone, and deep enough to challenge and provoke even the most learned. I believe this book will stand as a timeless resource for future generations.
You should read it.
Swoboda provides an imminently practical and pastoral approach to the subject of desire while maintaining a high level of Biblical and Theological rigor. This book is accessible enough for anyone, and deep enough to challenge and provoke even the most learned. I believe this book will stand as a timeless resource for future generations.
You should read it.
January 21, 2026
I have read many popular theology books (the ISBN says Religion>Christian Living>spiritual growth) and rarely have I found any as compelling, relevant, and well organized/researched as this. Most books are far too broad and not deep enough. A few are so deep as to feel disconnected from everyday life. Swoboda hits every nail squarely on the head, addressing both the practical questions and implications of this topic of desire as well as the theological ones.
Our culture has a deep disorder in our relationship with desire. Swoboda accesses that disorder with clarity, relatability, and robust intellectual and theological integrity. I would recommend this book to truly anyone—religious or not! It provokes good questions about our relationship with desire and how to live the good life as we wrestle with it.
Our culture has a deep disorder in our relationship with desire. Swoboda accesses that disorder with clarity, relatability, and robust intellectual and theological integrity. I would recommend this book to truly anyone—religious or not! It provokes good questions about our relationship with desire and how to live the good life as we wrestle with it.
November 14, 2024
6 stars! Stunningly good book. Beautifully written. Profound but accessible. Exactly what I needed to read and desired to read but didn’t know it.
March 24, 2025
Love everything by AJ Swoboda! I listened to the audio book, and wish he would have read it - as some of the tone/humor/etc feels a bit lost not being in his voice.
September 5, 2026
“The same desires that have been formed by God and deformed by Satan must also be transformed by the Spirit. This is the process of “disciplined desire”—or what Augustine called a “holy longing.” He believed “that is our life, to be trained by longing . . . in the measure that our longings are severed from the love of the world.””
“desire occupied such a central place in Jesus’ teaching ministry. Jesus often asked the blind, lame, and unwell, “What do you want?” So significant for Jesus was this question that of the 307 questions he’s recorded asking in the Gospels, it is one of the most repeated.”
“What’s most unsettling about Mark’s story are the desires of each of the three characters Jesus encounters: the man, demons, and townspeople. The demons want to be sent into the pigs. The townspeople want Jesus to go away. And the liberated man wants to follow Jesus. To our wonder we discover who does—and doesn’t—get what they’ve asked for. The one character who doesn’t get what he wants is the one who wants to follow Jesus. The ones who get what they want are those who either misunderstand or stand opposed to Jesus’ mission.”
“following Jesus often entails experiencing a wounded desire”
“Ours is a world of thorns. But what if, for a moment, we considered these intentional inconveniences built into our everyday existence not as bugs, but as features—not as problems, but as gifts. What if, indeed, the thorns are for us?”
“Inscriptions to nameless gods were quite common in antiquity. Statues and idols would often omit the name of the gods they represented. Why the anonymity? Simple: If the gods revealed their names, they were liable to be called upon, spoken to, and woken up. Knowing the name of your god gave you power to call upon that god.”
“Where does this should come from? Who says there is some way it was supposed to go? A perversion always implies a purpose”
“Not only do our search histories reveal much about our longings and wants, but they have become a vulnerable point of exploitation. An entire desire economy—powered by an iPhone in the hand with its near-omniscient algorithms hidden within—has been constructed to fulfill our every desire, quantify wants, and monetize longings. Those in power not only know our desires; they’re doing what they can to reshape them”
“Whether remaining hidden or becoming exposed, we can learn about ourselves by attending to what we desire and long for.”
“healing invariably includes paying attention to what we look at and look for. In these desires, we can identify the very place where Christ wants to meet and heal our hearts”
“Fantasies are road maps”
“this has been the human response since the beginning. We cover rather than confess”
“In a world of anonymous gods, the earliest chapters of Genesis revealing two names for God would have come off as shocking. Apparently, this God desires to be called on—even known”
“people often become their cosmologies. Put another way, we become the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves”
“Science, able to explain the properties of stars’ existence, can’t explain their reason for being”
“We exist by divine desire. That’s our cosmology. We were and are wanted”
“we desire because God desired. God loves giving life. God is a begetting God.”
“First, who would you believe is the happiest being in the entire universe? Or who experiences more joy and happiness than anyone else? In the Christian tradition, the answer is God. The late theologian Marva Dawn, for this reason, always capitalized Joy in her writings. Dawn was subtly reminding her reader that God is true Joy himself. Jesus is Joy in the flesh. Consider a second question: Who is the saddest being in the universe? Theologically, the answer remains the same. God is the saddest being in the universe. God’s coming Messiah, for Isaiah, was “a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief ” (Isa. 53:3 NLT). No being in the universe experiences more pain and lament than God, who weeps over evil, injustice, and human sin. At every moment, God experiences pure joy and happiness alongside lament and sadness over the good and evil under the sun. God experiences both at the same time.”
“Not to have,” wrote Wallace Stevens, “is the beginning of desire.” That’s true—for humans. Unlike God, the human experience is marked by what Augustine called rerum absentium concupiscentia, a “longing for absent things.””
“Human wants are birthed from lack. Divine wants are birthed from love.”
“May you know the urgency with which God longs for you”
“Adam had unmitigated, perfect, unending access to God in Eden. He had a life-giving job. Adam enjoyed all the food his heart desired. He likely shared communion and friendship with the animal kingdom. He had the whole world in his hands. Yet Adam was alone. Apparently, one can experience a real, true, and abiding relationship with God and still experience the existential crisis of aloneness in a sinless world. It’s almost like Adam was made to need more than just God. “It is not good for the man to be alone.” These are God’s words”
“It would seem that 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”
“The way of Jesus isn’t a hospice for desire. It’s the hospital for desire where it can be healed, restored, and resurrected to its original design”
“Depression can often manifest itself as a loss of desire. We are wired to and for desire. Without desire, something of our God-ordained glory is lost and the landscape of our lives devoid of relationship, purpose, calling, and hope. Desire, the great theologian James Houston contends, is “the throbbing pulse of human life.””
“God gave us three core original human desires. Humans have the desire to help, rule, and long.”
“When I lecture through Leviticus, I call it “the book of parties.” The biblical book that fleshes out God’s holiness most extensively is also a book stuffed to the brim with invitations to feast and celebrate. I ask my students to consider that holiness may have less to do with being otherworldly and more to do with becoming human.”
“Humans are those animals that are religious animals not because we are primarily believing animals but because we are liturgical animals—embodied, practicing creatures whose love/desire is aimed at something ultimate”
“nakhash isn’t a name. It’s a title. The serpent’s personal name is notably absent. This won’t be the last time biblical texts intentionally omit a personal name. When Egypt enslaved Israel, for example, the Egyptian ruler is known simply as Pharaoh. Similarly, Pharaoh is a title, not a name. Egypt had many Pharaohs”
“Is God just a lawmaker keeping us from living our deepest desires? Sadly, they listened. And so do we. This is step one of Satan’s methodia. In one fell swoop, something of God’s authority over humanity was handed to the entity of the serpent. This is why there remains an intimate connection between what desires we give ourselves to and who we submit to as our ultimate authority.”
“The grooming stage offers what has often been missed by one’s primary attachment figures. It is a heartbreaking reversal. The abuser offers what is lacking in the relationship with one’s caregivers to gain access to the heart. I have had to say many times during therapy that the abuser was a better picture of God than one’s parents or other primary caregivers.”
“How did their parents ignore them? What wounds of loneliness or being forgotten linger within? How were they never touched or loved? Through craftiness, the abuser often meets us right where we have a need by paying attention to, noticing, and seeing us”
“What is most diabolic is that the abuser sows seed that is often life-giving. God has created us to be studied, read, and interpreted, and the more accurate and deep the reading, the more life-giving is the experience. It doesn’t take long to be won by a careful reader”
“Satan always wants us to believe we need “more” than we have.”
“When you begin believing you are missing out, look down. There’s some snake at your feet. The serpent awakens our flesh by trying to convince us that we lack something”
“Indeed, if humans “saw” and “took” the food the serpent offers, God knows how to meet us. We are takers. And he knows how to heal takers. And he does so by beckoning us to come to him and eat. “Take and eat,” he says at the last supper, “this is my body””
“several characters who are portrayed as human satans—David is a satan to the Philistines (1 Sam. 29:4); Abishai is a satan to David (2 Sam. 19:23); Hadad is a satan to Solomon (1 Kings 5:4; 11:14); and Rezon is a satan to Solomon (1 Kings 11:23–25).”
“Eric Voegelin, in his book The Political Religions, speaks prophetically of the danger of a politic without the reference point of the invisible: When God is invisible behind the world, the contents of the world will become new gods; when the symbols of transcendent religiosity are banned, new symbols develop from the inner-worldly language of science to take their place. Like the Christian ecclesia, the inner-worldly community has its apocalypse too; yet the new apocalyptics insist that the symbols they create are scientific judgements”
“When we fall away from God, the desire for the infinite remains, but it is displaced upon things that will certainly lead to destruction”
“Hidden behind all sexual immorality is a secret search for sexual immortality”
“is struggling with the flesh a sign we are failing in our pursuit of God? The answer is surprising. The ongoing presence of the war of desire between the flesh and Spirit is, in reality, a sign of the Spirit’s presence. How can we say this? Because before we followed Jesus and were indwelt with the Spirit of God, there was no conflict with the flesh”
“We desire more of the desires we follow”
“Can God take away our unwanted desires? Sure he can. But Scripture, church history, and life suggests that this is not always guaranteed. Perhaps the longer we live with them—and find our humble confidence in God’s grace—the more we start seeing the rose attached to them”
“To be converted is to return our desire to God. “God made us without our permission,” Augustine wrote, “but he will not save us without our consent.””
“Desires change. But, as Paul wrote, love remains (1 Cor. 13:8). A distinctive mark of Christian maturity is one’s ability to continue following Jesus when our desires have abandoned us”
“Life is shaped by the end you live for,” Merton wrote. “You are made in the image of what you desire””
“Desire and duty are the two feet of discipleship”
“John Wesley: “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven upon earth.””
“All envy, more or less, is a desire to be on the inside. In an obscure essay called “The Inner Ring,” C. S. Lewis suggests that we spend our lives desperately seeking to enter into some mythical “inner ring” of those on some inside”
“when we find our identity in God through Christ, we are permitted to enter new terrains of freedom to see God in the desires he has given us”
“to “delight in the LORD,” to please the heart of God above all else, and not to get whatever we want. Why is this important? It creates a structure of order for our desires.”
“The Father is pleased with you. That is the basis of your identity.”
“so long as our love for God runs deeper than our attraction to God. In today’s culture, we now bow almost blindly before the Almighty Attraction, one of our favorite gods. If someone is attracted, drawn, inclined, titillated, awakened to a desire for some person, thing, or experience but decides to resist that thing, then they are ridiculed for being “repressed,” as though some eternal law of nature were being violated. This unspoken deification of attraction has become the eternal dictum of Western culture immersed in a consumer mentality.”
“In not receiving everything they wanted, their hearts and minds turned to God. I think this is what the author of Hebrews describes about the faithful who walk with God: “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect” (Heb. 11:39–40).”
“The path to holiness goes through not getting everything we want”
“my way of keeping things safe was to simply write a big X for my struggle. Reading them now, I’m struck at the consistency of the X. X here. X there. God, why do I have X? God, please forgive me for X. God would you please deliver me of my X. Jesus, can you still love me with X? Spirit, show me yourself through my X.”
“whatever X we find ourselves with marks the spot of God’s grace and faithfulness. If we watch long enough, we’ll begin to see that the very thorn in our side that creates the most pain is the place where God makes himself known”
“the Spirit sheds tears with creatures in our anguish”
“if we could put our hand over a fire and not feel it, then we would run the risk of burning our hand off. Pain, in essence, is God’s built in design to protect us from harm.”
“the healing of the leper was not only a healing of the person to well-being; it was equally the healing of the person to feel pain once again”
“Part of healing is learning to feel pain again”
“True parental love entails withholding some desires for the sake of the child’s formation”
“In our world, happiness is getting everything one wants. In the kingdom of God, happiness is leaning fully into everything God wants.”
“the Greek word kardia is the same word used in the New Testament for both “heart” and “mind.” Hebrew doesn’t even have a word for the brain. Kardia is our internal reality”
“The circumcision of the heart is the circumcision of desire; what some have called the “woundedness of desire””
“A. W. Tozer: “The unattended garden will soon be overrun with weeds; the heart that fails to cultivate truth and root out error will shortly be a theological wilderness””
“Søren Kierkegaard, “Sin grows every moment one fails to get out of it.””
“Confession is agreeing with God. This kind of confession isn’t informing God of something he is unaware of or does not already know. Quite the opposite. God already knows our sins intimately. Confession is acknowledging something before God he’s keenly aware of.”
“This kind of mutual, human-to-human confession to which he is speaking brings about what James calls “healing.” Did you notice that? The result isn’t forgiveness. The result is healing. When humans name their sins to one another, healing takes place”
“once Protestants stopped practicing confession in local churches, the human need for confession continued, resulting in what you and I now call a therapist’s office. One scholar was even willing to deem the modern-day therapist as “the secular priest of society.””
“Confession is telling God and others what’s true. The key to dealing with unwanted desires is to shed light on them—to allow others into them in a safe, trusting, and loving relationship”
“The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection,” Chalmers wrote, “is by the expulsive power of a new one””
“We don’t just cast out the demons; we also must be filled by the presence, wonder, and desires of God. The cure for a demon possession isn’t merely exorcism; it’s a new possession—being filled with the Spirit above all.”
“In killing one desire, he plants the seed of another.”
“Whether we want it or not, our desires are being discipled and educated. The question, in part, isn’t if our desires will be educated but how they are being educated”
“In 2015, Oprah Winfrey’s television studio produced a new show called Belief as an exploration of spirituality from one of America’s most inspiring women. During a promotional tour, Oprah was interviewed about her favorite Bible verse. Oprah said she loved Psalm 37:4, which reads, “Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (KJV). She then explains who the Lord is: Now what that says to me, “Lord” has a wide range [of meaning]. What is Lord? Compassion, love, forgiveness, kindness. So you delight yourself in those virtues where the character of the Lord is revealed. Delight thyself in goodness, delight thyself in love, kindness, and compassion, and you will receive the desires of your heart. It says to me, if you focus on being a force for good, good things will come.”
“The spiritual life,” Dallas Willard contended, “is a life organized around God.” This represents a stark contrast to the way of the world, which sees the self as the center—what Martin Luther was fond of calling homo incurvatus in se (“humanity curved in on itself ”).”
“Sometimes our way of controlling God is by studying him, what Calvin would call “senseless curiosity.” Even theology can be self-centered.”
“Self-centeredness disfigures our theological imaginations”
“In the silence, an idol surfaced in my heart. I loved preaching. But somewhere along the way I’d fallen more in love with how preaching made me feel, how useful I felt when people connected with God as I preached, the joy of being used by God, the feeling of being needed by the church. When I preached, I was wanted, I was loved, I was seen. Without a pulpit, my identity was unclear. Did God still love me? Was I needed by the church? Did people still want me? My emotional supply chain had broken down. In my own eyes, I was only someone when I was wanted, seen, and listened to. The Spirit was gently and lovingly purging me of lesser desires”
“No longer could I use the pulpit to share vulnerably with strangers while side-stepping the work of intimacy with people closest to me. No longer could I use the pulpit to forge one-way vulnerability without doing the work of being known by God.”
“what Eugene Peterson called the “new trinity” of “holy needs, holy wants, and holy feelings””
“desire occupied such a central place in Jesus’ teaching ministry. Jesus often asked the blind, lame, and unwell, “What do you want?” So significant for Jesus was this question that of the 307 questions he’s recorded asking in the Gospels, it is one of the most repeated.”
“What’s most unsettling about Mark’s story are the desires of each of the three characters Jesus encounters: the man, demons, and townspeople. The demons want to be sent into the pigs. The townspeople want Jesus to go away. And the liberated man wants to follow Jesus. To our wonder we discover who does—and doesn’t—get what they’ve asked for. The one character who doesn’t get what he wants is the one who wants to follow Jesus. The ones who get what they want are those who either misunderstand or stand opposed to Jesus’ mission.”
“following Jesus often entails experiencing a wounded desire”
“Ours is a world of thorns. But what if, for a moment, we considered these intentional inconveniences built into our everyday existence not as bugs, but as features—not as problems, but as gifts. What if, indeed, the thorns are for us?”
“Inscriptions to nameless gods were quite common in antiquity. Statues and idols would often omit the name of the gods they represented. Why the anonymity? Simple: If the gods revealed their names, they were liable to be called upon, spoken to, and woken up. Knowing the name of your god gave you power to call upon that god.”
“Where does this should come from? Who says there is some way it was supposed to go? A perversion always implies a purpose”
“Not only do our search histories reveal much about our longings and wants, but they have become a vulnerable point of exploitation. An entire desire economy—powered by an iPhone in the hand with its near-omniscient algorithms hidden within—has been constructed to fulfill our every desire, quantify wants, and monetize longings. Those in power not only know our desires; they’re doing what they can to reshape them”
“Whether remaining hidden or becoming exposed, we can learn about ourselves by attending to what we desire and long for.”
“healing invariably includes paying attention to what we look at and look for. In these desires, we can identify the very place where Christ wants to meet and heal our hearts”
“Fantasies are road maps”
“this has been the human response since the beginning. We cover rather than confess”
“In a world of anonymous gods, the earliest chapters of Genesis revealing two names for God would have come off as shocking. Apparently, this God desires to be called on—even known”
“people often become their cosmologies. Put another way, we become the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves”
“Science, able to explain the properties of stars’ existence, can’t explain their reason for being”
“We exist by divine desire. That’s our cosmology. We were and are wanted”
“we desire because God desired. God loves giving life. God is a begetting God.”
“First, who would you believe is the happiest being in the entire universe? Or who experiences more joy and happiness than anyone else? In the Christian tradition, the answer is God. The late theologian Marva Dawn, for this reason, always capitalized Joy in her writings. Dawn was subtly reminding her reader that God is true Joy himself. Jesus is Joy in the flesh. Consider a second question: Who is the saddest being in the universe? Theologically, the answer remains the same. God is the saddest being in the universe. God’s coming Messiah, for Isaiah, was “a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief ” (Isa. 53:3 NLT). No being in the universe experiences more pain and lament than God, who weeps over evil, injustice, and human sin. At every moment, God experiences pure joy and happiness alongside lament and sadness over the good and evil under the sun. God experiences both at the same time.”
“Not to have,” wrote Wallace Stevens, “is the beginning of desire.” That’s true—for humans. Unlike God, the human experience is marked by what Augustine called rerum absentium concupiscentia, a “longing for absent things.””
“Human wants are birthed from lack. Divine wants are birthed from love.”
“May you know the urgency with which God longs for you”
“Adam had unmitigated, perfect, unending access to God in Eden. He had a life-giving job. Adam enjoyed all the food his heart desired. He likely shared communion and friendship with the animal kingdom. He had the whole world in his hands. Yet Adam was alone. Apparently, one can experience a real, true, and abiding relationship with God and still experience the existential crisis of aloneness in a sinless world. It’s almost like Adam was made to need more than just God. “It is not good for the man to be alone.” These are God’s words”
“It would seem that 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”
“The way of Jesus isn’t a hospice for desire. It’s the hospital for desire where it can be healed, restored, and resurrected to its original design”
“Depression can often manifest itself as a loss of desire. We are wired to and for desire. Without desire, something of our God-ordained glory is lost and the landscape of our lives devoid of relationship, purpose, calling, and hope. Desire, the great theologian James Houston contends, is “the throbbing pulse of human life.””
“God gave us three core original human desires. Humans have the desire to help, rule, and long.”
“When I lecture through Leviticus, I call it “the book of parties.” The biblical book that fleshes out God’s holiness most extensively is also a book stuffed to the brim with invitations to feast and celebrate. I ask my students to consider that holiness may have less to do with being otherworldly and more to do with becoming human.”
“Humans are those animals that are religious animals not because we are primarily believing animals but because we are liturgical animals—embodied, practicing creatures whose love/desire is aimed at something ultimate”
“nakhash isn’t a name. It’s a title. The serpent’s personal name is notably absent. This won’t be the last time biblical texts intentionally omit a personal name. When Egypt enslaved Israel, for example, the Egyptian ruler is known simply as Pharaoh. Similarly, Pharaoh is a title, not a name. Egypt had many Pharaohs”
“Is God just a lawmaker keeping us from living our deepest desires? Sadly, they listened. And so do we. This is step one of Satan’s methodia. In one fell swoop, something of God’s authority over humanity was handed to the entity of the serpent. This is why there remains an intimate connection between what desires we give ourselves to and who we submit to as our ultimate authority.”
“The grooming stage offers what has often been missed by one’s primary attachment figures. It is a heartbreaking reversal. The abuser offers what is lacking in the relationship with one’s caregivers to gain access to the heart. I have had to say many times during therapy that the abuser was a better picture of God than one’s parents or other primary caregivers.”
“How did their parents ignore them? What wounds of loneliness or being forgotten linger within? How were they never touched or loved? Through craftiness, the abuser often meets us right where we have a need by paying attention to, noticing, and seeing us”
“What is most diabolic is that the abuser sows seed that is often life-giving. God has created us to be studied, read, and interpreted, and the more accurate and deep the reading, the more life-giving is the experience. It doesn’t take long to be won by a careful reader”
“Satan always wants us to believe we need “more” than we have.”
“When you begin believing you are missing out, look down. There’s some snake at your feet. The serpent awakens our flesh by trying to convince us that we lack something”
“Indeed, if humans “saw” and “took” the food the serpent offers, God knows how to meet us. We are takers. And he knows how to heal takers. And he does so by beckoning us to come to him and eat. “Take and eat,” he says at the last supper, “this is my body””
“several characters who are portrayed as human satans—David is a satan to the Philistines (1 Sam. 29:4); Abishai is a satan to David (2 Sam. 19:23); Hadad is a satan to Solomon (1 Kings 5:4; 11:14); and Rezon is a satan to Solomon (1 Kings 11:23–25).”
“Eric Voegelin, in his book The Political Religions, speaks prophetically of the danger of a politic without the reference point of the invisible: When God is invisible behind the world, the contents of the world will become new gods; when the symbols of transcendent religiosity are banned, new symbols develop from the inner-worldly language of science to take their place. Like the Christian ecclesia, the inner-worldly community has its apocalypse too; yet the new apocalyptics insist that the symbols they create are scientific judgements”
“When we fall away from God, the desire for the infinite remains, but it is displaced upon things that will certainly lead to destruction”
“Hidden behind all sexual immorality is a secret search for sexual immortality”
“is struggling with the flesh a sign we are failing in our pursuit of God? The answer is surprising. The ongoing presence of the war of desire between the flesh and Spirit is, in reality, a sign of the Spirit’s presence. How can we say this? Because before we followed Jesus and were indwelt with the Spirit of God, there was no conflict with the flesh”
“We desire more of the desires we follow”
“Can God take away our unwanted desires? Sure he can. But Scripture, church history, and life suggests that this is not always guaranteed. Perhaps the longer we live with them—and find our humble confidence in God’s grace—the more we start seeing the rose attached to them”
“To be converted is to return our desire to God. “God made us without our permission,” Augustine wrote, “but he will not save us without our consent.””
“Desires change. But, as Paul wrote, love remains (1 Cor. 13:8). A distinctive mark of Christian maturity is one’s ability to continue following Jesus when our desires have abandoned us”
“Life is shaped by the end you live for,” Merton wrote. “You are made in the image of what you desire””
“Desire and duty are the two feet of discipleship”
“John Wesley: “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven upon earth.””
“All envy, more or less, is a desire to be on the inside. In an obscure essay called “The Inner Ring,” C. S. Lewis suggests that we spend our lives desperately seeking to enter into some mythical “inner ring” of those on some inside”
“when we find our identity in God through Christ, we are permitted to enter new terrains of freedom to see God in the desires he has given us”
“to “delight in the LORD,” to please the heart of God above all else, and not to get whatever we want. Why is this important? It creates a structure of order for our desires.”
“The Father is pleased with you. That is the basis of your identity.”
“so long as our love for God runs deeper than our attraction to God. In today’s culture, we now bow almost blindly before the Almighty Attraction, one of our favorite gods. If someone is attracted, drawn, inclined, titillated, awakened to a desire for some person, thing, or experience but decides to resist that thing, then they are ridiculed for being “repressed,” as though some eternal law of nature were being violated. This unspoken deification of attraction has become the eternal dictum of Western culture immersed in a consumer mentality.”
“In not receiving everything they wanted, their hearts and minds turned to God. I think this is what the author of Hebrews describes about the faithful who walk with God: “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect” (Heb. 11:39–40).”
“The path to holiness goes through not getting everything we want”
“my way of keeping things safe was to simply write a big X for my struggle. Reading them now, I’m struck at the consistency of the X. X here. X there. God, why do I have X? God, please forgive me for X. God would you please deliver me of my X. Jesus, can you still love me with X? Spirit, show me yourself through my X.”
“whatever X we find ourselves with marks the spot of God’s grace and faithfulness. If we watch long enough, we’ll begin to see that the very thorn in our side that creates the most pain is the place where God makes himself known”
“the Spirit sheds tears with creatures in our anguish”
“if we could put our hand over a fire and not feel it, then we would run the risk of burning our hand off. Pain, in essence, is God’s built in design to protect us from harm.”
“the healing of the leper was not only a healing of the person to well-being; it was equally the healing of the person to feel pain once again”
“Part of healing is learning to feel pain again”
“True parental love entails withholding some desires for the sake of the child’s formation”
“In our world, happiness is getting everything one wants. In the kingdom of God, happiness is leaning fully into everything God wants.”
“the Greek word kardia is the same word used in the New Testament for both “heart” and “mind.” Hebrew doesn’t even have a word for the brain. Kardia is our internal reality”
“The circumcision of the heart is the circumcision of desire; what some have called the “woundedness of desire””
“A. W. Tozer: “The unattended garden will soon be overrun with weeds; the heart that fails to cultivate truth and root out error will shortly be a theological wilderness””
“Søren Kierkegaard, “Sin grows every moment one fails to get out of it.””
“Confession is agreeing with God. This kind of confession isn’t informing God of something he is unaware of or does not already know. Quite the opposite. God already knows our sins intimately. Confession is acknowledging something before God he’s keenly aware of.”
“This kind of mutual, human-to-human confession to which he is speaking brings about what James calls “healing.” Did you notice that? The result isn’t forgiveness. The result is healing. When humans name their sins to one another, healing takes place”
“once Protestants stopped practicing confession in local churches, the human need for confession continued, resulting in what you and I now call a therapist’s office. One scholar was even willing to deem the modern-day therapist as “the secular priest of society.””
“Confession is telling God and others what’s true. The key to dealing with unwanted desires is to shed light on them—to allow others into them in a safe, trusting, and loving relationship”
“The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection,” Chalmers wrote, “is by the expulsive power of a new one””
“We don’t just cast out the demons; we also must be filled by the presence, wonder, and desires of God. The cure for a demon possession isn’t merely exorcism; it’s a new possession—being filled with the Spirit above all.”
“In killing one desire, he plants the seed of another.”
“Whether we want it or not, our desires are being discipled and educated. The question, in part, isn’t if our desires will be educated but how they are being educated”
“In 2015, Oprah Winfrey’s television studio produced a new show called Belief as an exploration of spirituality from one of America’s most inspiring women. During a promotional tour, Oprah was interviewed about her favorite Bible verse. Oprah said she loved Psalm 37:4, which reads, “Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (KJV). She then explains who the Lord is: Now what that says to me, “Lord” has a wide range [of meaning]. What is Lord? Compassion, love, forgiveness, kindness. So you delight yourself in those virtues where the character of the Lord is revealed. Delight thyself in goodness, delight thyself in love, kindness, and compassion, and you will receive the desires of your heart. It says to me, if you focus on being a force for good, good things will come.”
“The spiritual life,” Dallas Willard contended, “is a life organized around God.” This represents a stark contrast to the way of the world, which sees the self as the center—what Martin Luther was fond of calling homo incurvatus in se (“humanity curved in on itself ”).”
“Sometimes our way of controlling God is by studying him, what Calvin would call “senseless curiosity.” Even theology can be self-centered.”
“Self-centeredness disfigures our theological imaginations”
“In the silence, an idol surfaced in my heart. I loved preaching. But somewhere along the way I’d fallen more in love with how preaching made me feel, how useful I felt when people connected with God as I preached, the joy of being used by God, the feeling of being needed by the church. When I preached, I was wanted, I was loved, I was seen. Without a pulpit, my identity was unclear. Did God still love me? Was I needed by the church? Did people still want me? My emotional supply chain had broken down. In my own eyes, I was only someone when I was wanted, seen, and listened to. The Spirit was gently and lovingly purging me of lesser desires”
“No longer could I use the pulpit to share vulnerably with strangers while side-stepping the work of intimacy with people closest to me. No longer could I use the pulpit to forge one-way vulnerability without doing the work of being known by God.”
“what Eugene Peterson called the “new trinity” of “holy needs, holy wants, and holy feelings””
March 16, 2024
Gentle, hard, and beautiful. I plan to re-read this one.
August 29, 2024
Part 3/4 in the series, "God, What Should I Do With My Life?"
What do you want?
No, I mean, really. What do you want? On a deep, intimate, soul-level -- what do you really, truly want?
The answer will be different for each one of us, but for the thoughtful Christian who is trying to come to terms with his or her unique mixed bag of desires and longings, A.J. Swoboda offers some theory, guidance, food for thought, and comfort, with this book, The Gift of Thorns .
This is one of the more intense Christian books I've read, not only because it gets into some fairly heavy-duty theology that you don't often find in the mainstream Christian Living section, but because Dr. Swoboda engages in head-on reckoning with some of the deepest and tenderest parts of the human experience. It's about the theology of desire, which sounds pretty abstract, but given that at any given time a human being is wanting something or another, it hits all too close to home. Add to that the fact that, for the Christian, certain desires are for things that are, according to Christian morality, off limits. Indeed, some of us struggle with guilt for even our desires, regardless of whether we actually act on them (whether the mere desire to sin constitutes a sin in and of itself is one of the oldest debates in the history of Christianity, incidentally). Also add to that the fact that not all of us can be John Piper and happily desire and rejoice in God all the time, and, well, you have a book that really speaks to the soul. The experience of reading this book is mind-expanding, thought-provoking, sometimes deeply painful, but also at times healing.
There's been a bit of a trend in the Christian Living world to take note of the "my truth"/ "you do you" culture that saturates secular society and then aggressively go against the grain with quote-unquote countercultural messages like "don't follow your dream", "crucify your desires," and so on. Yes, it is true that the Christian walk, like many good and worthy things in this life, requires a lot of hard work and sacrifice. Some of it is even, yes, painful. And, yes, our culture has admittedly leaned too hard into individualism, and Christians are called to stand out by denying ourselves of some desires. But sometimes all these calls to take up your cross and crucify your hopes and dreams leave one with the distinct impression that the most godly thing someone can do is strive to make themselves completely miserable.
Swoboda has a far healthier, and more theologically informed, perspective on desire. It turns out desires aren't inherently bad at all. In fact, some desires and emotions are actually quite advisable to follow. God has desires, and He created humanity to have desires, too. Also, one can desire good and right things in the Lord with all the passion and ferocity with which we long for yummy food, a loving partner, or that latest trendy #BookTok book (haha). Desire, in other words, is not evil, contrary to what a lot of contemporary Evangelical thought on the matter might lead you to believe. Swoboda does a good job of correcting misconceptions that have all too often led to unnecessary pain for Evangelicals (i.e., that sex is inherently evil, that we should strive to have no desires apart from Jesus, that a lapse in enthusiasm about prayer and scripture reading is a sign that we are bad Christians, etc.).
Still, though, sin is a reality, and our desires are, alas, corrupted. We want things that will hurt us and pull us away from God, and we wonder why we keep wanting things we know are wrong. While Swoboda is gentle with some desires, he also tells readers to mercilessly kill others. Murder your darlings, as it were. Not just accept them, or behavior-modify them away to look good for the Church, but be killing them, slowly and painfully, every day. Swoboda does not mince words about how necessary, or hard, this death to sin will be. His book is as tough as it is kind.
Yet, unlike some books on the subject, this little volume doesn't feel like a simple exercise in sanctified self-hatred either. Dr. Swoboda's tone throughout definitely feels a lot kinder and more empathetic than what I'm used to hearing from big-name Evangelical leaders. While he is merciless about killing sin, he's more tender about desire. Swoboda generally is of the opinion that our desires are not so much evil, monstrous secrets that must be desperately crammed into the basement of the soul, as a guide to the places where we are most longing to find healing or God's love. To be sure, some desires are bad and need to be nipped in the bud (say, a desire to punch your annoying co-worker, or look at hardcore porn), but in many cases, Swoboda actually challenges readers to look deeper into the root of the desire and invite God into that space as the One who most desires our good. Desire is not evil, but it is powerful and chaotic. It must be trained into wanting the right things. And that process is difficult and lifelong.
Another case Dr. Swoboda repeatedly makes is that, true to the title of the book, sometimes having desires thwarted is the best thing that can happen to us. Thorns are the things that make life harder. The thorns that grew in the previously pristine Eden that made farming a difficult chore for humankind rather than an Edenic joyride. Paul's metaphorical "thorn in his side" that troubled him to no end, that he desperately tried to pray away. But sometimes having to go without can teach us to be more patient people who understand what really matters. Though the struggle with whatever our weakness is (usually something to do with sexuality and/or spiritual doubt, in my experience) is agonizing, it can lead to better self-knowledge and understanding of God's mercy. The recurrent sins that we're so ashamed of might just be one place where, slowly but surely, we are being spiritually formed. Perhaps one day we will overcome that struggle, and will have grown for it. I'm not quite sold that thorns are always a gift: there are, after all, such things as pointless suffering and unnecessary self-denial. But Swoboda does make a good point.
I will offer the fair warning that, if you are searching for support and affirmation for certain desires that might be close to your heart, you won't exactly find it here. Dr. Swoboda is definitely a theological conservative. Some of his language around "killing desire" and his strict takes on sexual morality did feel uncomfortable to me.. Those with more serious religious trauma (especially LGBT folks) may find parts of the book distinctly painful. But still, for a guy who is decidedly non-affirming, I think Swoboda has a lot more compassion and gentleness than most Evangelical writers talking about sexuality or desire, which I appreciate. He certainly has had his fair share of struggles with desire that didn't have pat easy answers. He is sincere, empathetic, and never afraid to roll up his sleeves and get scratched by the thorniness (ha!) of the theological and personal questions he delves into.
A book about theology of desire might seem terribly academic for a mid-twentysomething creative who is trying to figure out what to do with her life. But it has been surprisingly helpful. As silly as it sounds, this book helped me kick my longstanding struggle with using impulse purchases as a coping mechanism to deal with my depression (and saved me a lot of $$ in the process haha). It's helped me think a lot about the deeper roots behind my "wanting" certain things from my life and my worries as to whether God is "okay" with that. And, after all, characters are driven by desire, so reading books about psychology and desire is actually helpful to me as an author.
A deep, intense, and thought-provoking read.
- AMH
What do you want?
No, I mean, really. What do you want? On a deep, intimate, soul-level -- what do you really, truly want?
The answer will be different for each one of us, but for the thoughtful Christian who is trying to come to terms with his or her unique mixed bag of desires and longings, A.J. Swoboda offers some theory, guidance, food for thought, and comfort, with this book, The Gift of Thorns .
This is one of the more intense Christian books I've read, not only because it gets into some fairly heavy-duty theology that you don't often find in the mainstream Christian Living section, but because Dr. Swoboda engages in head-on reckoning with some of the deepest and tenderest parts of the human experience. It's about the theology of desire, which sounds pretty abstract, but given that at any given time a human being is wanting something or another, it hits all too close to home. Add to that the fact that, for the Christian, certain desires are for things that are, according to Christian morality, off limits. Indeed, some of us struggle with guilt for even our desires, regardless of whether we actually act on them (whether the mere desire to sin constitutes a sin in and of itself is one of the oldest debates in the history of Christianity, incidentally). Also add to that the fact that not all of us can be John Piper and happily desire and rejoice in God all the time, and, well, you have a book that really speaks to the soul. The experience of reading this book is mind-expanding, thought-provoking, sometimes deeply painful, but also at times healing.
There's been a bit of a trend in the Christian Living world to take note of the "my truth"/ "you do you" culture that saturates secular society and then aggressively go against the grain with quote-unquote countercultural messages like "don't follow your dream", "crucify your desires," and so on. Yes, it is true that the Christian walk, like many good and worthy things in this life, requires a lot of hard work and sacrifice. Some of it is even, yes, painful. And, yes, our culture has admittedly leaned too hard into individualism, and Christians are called to stand out by denying ourselves of some desires. But sometimes all these calls to take up your cross and crucify your hopes and dreams leave one with the distinct impression that the most godly thing someone can do is strive to make themselves completely miserable.
Swoboda has a far healthier, and more theologically informed, perspective on desire. It turns out desires aren't inherently bad at all. In fact, some desires and emotions are actually quite advisable to follow. God has desires, and He created humanity to have desires, too. Also, one can desire good and right things in the Lord with all the passion and ferocity with which we long for yummy food, a loving partner, or that latest trendy #BookTok book (haha). Desire, in other words, is not evil, contrary to what a lot of contemporary Evangelical thought on the matter might lead you to believe. Swoboda does a good job of correcting misconceptions that have all too often led to unnecessary pain for Evangelicals (i.e., that sex is inherently evil, that we should strive to have no desires apart from Jesus, that a lapse in enthusiasm about prayer and scripture reading is a sign that we are bad Christians, etc.).
Still, though, sin is a reality, and our desires are, alas, corrupted. We want things that will hurt us and pull us away from God, and we wonder why we keep wanting things we know are wrong. While Swoboda is gentle with some desires, he also tells readers to mercilessly kill others. Murder your darlings, as it were. Not just accept them, or behavior-modify them away to look good for the Church, but be killing them, slowly and painfully, every day. Swoboda does not mince words about how necessary, or hard, this death to sin will be. His book is as tough as it is kind.
Yet, unlike some books on the subject, this little volume doesn't feel like a simple exercise in sanctified self-hatred either. Dr. Swoboda's tone throughout definitely feels a lot kinder and more empathetic than what I'm used to hearing from big-name Evangelical leaders. While he is merciless about killing sin, he's more tender about desire. Swoboda generally is of the opinion that our desires are not so much evil, monstrous secrets that must be desperately crammed into the basement of the soul, as a guide to the places where we are most longing to find healing or God's love. To be sure, some desires are bad and need to be nipped in the bud (say, a desire to punch your annoying co-worker, or look at hardcore porn), but in many cases, Swoboda actually challenges readers to look deeper into the root of the desire and invite God into that space as the One who most desires our good. Desire is not evil, but it is powerful and chaotic. It must be trained into wanting the right things. And that process is difficult and lifelong.
Another case Dr. Swoboda repeatedly makes is that, true to the title of the book, sometimes having desires thwarted is the best thing that can happen to us. Thorns are the things that make life harder. The thorns that grew in the previously pristine Eden that made farming a difficult chore for humankind rather than an Edenic joyride. Paul's metaphorical "thorn in his side" that troubled him to no end, that he desperately tried to pray away. But sometimes having to go without can teach us to be more patient people who understand what really matters. Though the struggle with whatever our weakness is (usually something to do with sexuality and/or spiritual doubt, in my experience) is agonizing, it can lead to better self-knowledge and understanding of God's mercy. The recurrent sins that we're so ashamed of might just be one place where, slowly but surely, we are being spiritually formed. Perhaps one day we will overcome that struggle, and will have grown for it. I'm not quite sold that thorns are always a gift: there are, after all, such things as pointless suffering and unnecessary self-denial. But Swoboda does make a good point.
I will offer the fair warning that, if you are searching for support and affirmation for certain desires that might be close to your heart, you won't exactly find it here. Dr. Swoboda is definitely a theological conservative. Some of his language around "killing desire" and his strict takes on sexual morality did feel uncomfortable to me.. Those with more serious religious trauma (especially LGBT folks) may find parts of the book distinctly painful. But still, for a guy who is decidedly non-affirming, I think Swoboda has a lot more compassion and gentleness than most Evangelical writers talking about sexuality or desire, which I appreciate. He certainly has had his fair share of struggles with desire that didn't have pat easy answers. He is sincere, empathetic, and never afraid to roll up his sleeves and get scratched by the thorniness (ha!) of the theological and personal questions he delves into.
A book about theology of desire might seem terribly academic for a mid-twentysomething creative who is trying to figure out what to do with her life. But it has been surprisingly helpful. As silly as it sounds, this book helped me kick my longstanding struggle with using impulse purchases as a coping mechanism to deal with my depression (and saved me a lot of $$ in the process haha). It's helped me think a lot about the deeper roots behind my "wanting" certain things from my life and my worries as to whether God is "okay" with that. And, after all, characters are driven by desire, so reading books about psychology and desire is actually helpful to me as an author.
A deep, intense, and thought-provoking read.
- AMH
June 21, 2024
This is a well written, well, researched, thoughtful, entertaining book about the under emphasize reality of desires in our lives. There were parts I thought could use a bit more practical application, but it was largely an enlightening and incredibly helpful read.
June 1, 2024
This is the first book I’ve ever read that is about a theology of desire, i.e. what can desire tell us about God, who we are as humans, and what it’s all pointing towards.
A.J. Swoboda takes the reader back to the beginning: about how God desired creation and humans; about how God created us from the beginning with desire, for himself but also for one another; and how Satan twisted those desires.
In Part 2, Swoboda investigates what happens when desire is separated from God’s presence and what to do about the biblical term “flesh” and what do we do with those desires. Remove God from the equation, then desire becomes unmoored and it becomes humanity’s ultimate pursuit, their idols. Christian maturity tempers desire, roots it in God, and recognizes that when desire for God wains, that we are called to more than attraction. Instead we are formed best when we realize our lack.
Part 3 talks about reordering our desires, away from rebellion and recentering them again around God. This is a lifelong journey, which involves filling up on right desire, which begins and is founded on a renewal of the presence, the wonder, a desire for and of God. This transforms us from the inside out. Reordering desires involves discerning the good from the great, the secondary from the most important. The good needs to be hated in favor of the best—a fascinating little discourse on the language of hate and what it means in scripture.
In part 4 Swoboda tells us about reviving our passions. First we need to recognize that desire is at the root of the deepest hurts we suffer: desire disappointed or betrayed, desire unrequited. They have been weaponized against us to maim and destroy, but it can also be the doorway to renewal. Those whom scripture most praises, are those who recognize their spiritual hunger and thirst, and pursue God. In the final chapter, desire is essentially the sign that none of us are home until our deepest desires are met. But it isn’t about getting what we want, which Swoboda identifies as God’s wrath (get the book and read about it), instead its being at peace with what God wants and discovering that our true desires are found within his story and will.
I highly recommend this book, not only for its theological insight, its insight into modern identity, but also as a study in the Christian spiritual life. This has the makings of a classic.
A.J. Swoboda takes the reader back to the beginning: about how God desired creation and humans; about how God created us from the beginning with desire, for himself but also for one another; and how Satan twisted those desires.
In Part 2, Swoboda investigates what happens when desire is separated from God’s presence and what to do about the biblical term “flesh” and what do we do with those desires. Remove God from the equation, then desire becomes unmoored and it becomes humanity’s ultimate pursuit, their idols. Christian maturity tempers desire, roots it in God, and recognizes that when desire for God wains, that we are called to more than attraction. Instead we are formed best when we realize our lack.
Part 3 talks about reordering our desires, away from rebellion and recentering them again around God. This is a lifelong journey, which involves filling up on right desire, which begins and is founded on a renewal of the presence, the wonder, a desire for and of God. This transforms us from the inside out. Reordering desires involves discerning the good from the great, the secondary from the most important. The good needs to be hated in favor of the best—a fascinating little discourse on the language of hate and what it means in scripture.
In part 4 Swoboda tells us about reviving our passions. First we need to recognize that desire is at the root of the deepest hurts we suffer: desire disappointed or betrayed, desire unrequited. They have been weaponized against us to maim and destroy, but it can also be the doorway to renewal. Those whom scripture most praises, are those who recognize their spiritual hunger and thirst, and pursue God. In the final chapter, desire is essentially the sign that none of us are home until our deepest desires are met. But it isn’t about getting what we want, which Swoboda identifies as God’s wrath (get the book and read about it), instead its being at peace with what God wants and discovering that our true desires are found within his story and will.
I highly recommend this book, not only for its theological insight, its insight into modern identity, but also as a study in the Christian spiritual life. This has the makings of a classic.
November 8, 2024
I picked up this book after reading my alumni newsletter discussing Dr. Swoboda's program for Spiritual Foundation and Soul Care-what a great department nane, right? I was interested to see if they would allow me to audit one of his classes, but I wanted to know a little more about his views and theology. Wow... I'm definitely looking into how I might be able to work a class into my future plans.
I found the Biblical perspective applicable without being overtly denominational, which made the concepts feel fresh, motivating, and reflective. Swoboda's approach lacks judgment while clearly sharing theological truth, as well; often difficult for even the best
pastors to convey in writing, I think. In nearly every chapter, I was highlighting text, journaling concepts that stood out to me, or calling a friend to share what I'd read.
I won't share any spoilers because if you're interested enough to read a review, I think it's worth picking it up. I hope you'll find it inspires your faith and challenges you to dig deeper.
I found the Biblical perspective applicable without being overtly denominational, which made the concepts feel fresh, motivating, and reflective. Swoboda's approach lacks judgment while clearly sharing theological truth, as well; often difficult for even the best
pastors to convey in writing, I think. In nearly every chapter, I was highlighting text, journaling concepts that stood out to me, or calling a friend to share what I'd read.
I won't share any spoilers because if you're interested enough to read a review, I think it's worth picking it up. I hope you'll find it inspires your faith and challenges you to dig deeper.
December 2, 2024
The church’s relationship to desire is a complicated one. Are Christians to stay all their desires under the assumption that their wants must be of self rather than of God? Sometimes it seems this is the popular belief, and it’s the belief Swoboda interrogates. His conclusion is nuanced and rich, showing the ways the Bible and God support human desire when submitted to one’s faith in God. The chapter on God being a desiring God, that humans are not truly needed but are profoundly wanted had me in tears. I found this book to be incredibly informative and thorough. The content is presented with humility and personal stories while remaining deeply theological and biblical. In my opinion, the best books in this genre of Christian nonfiction are those which press me to spiritual formation and holiness. This is that.
The bottom line: This is one of my favorite nonfiction reads of the year. I was challenged in my theology and worldview. I highly recommend it!
The bottom line: This is one of my favorite nonfiction reads of the year. I was challenged in my theology and worldview. I highly recommend it!
March 28, 2024
I gain something from every book I read. But some books are more formative and thought provoking. This is one of those books.
Desire is something we all struggle with. Whether it's a present desire for something wrong, or an absent desire for something good; desire is something that often frustrates and confuses us. Why do I want what I know will hurt me? Why don't I want what I know to be good?
Swoboda does an excellent job of explaining the fact that we are God's good creation. Created by a desiring God to desire he who created us. Sin has broken our God given Wholeness as Satan has used our desires against us.
I learned so much from this book. It's definitely one that will be in my library and that I will go back to often.
Desire is something we all struggle with. Whether it's a present desire for something wrong, or an absent desire for something good; desire is something that often frustrates and confuses us. Why do I want what I know will hurt me? Why don't I want what I know to be good?
Swoboda does an excellent job of explaining the fact that we are God's good creation. Created by a desiring God to desire he who created us. Sin has broken our God given Wholeness as Satan has used our desires against us.
I learned so much from this book. It's definitely one that will be in my library and that I will go back to often.
June 19, 2024
This is not a book to fly through! Each page needed time for thoughtful reflection. Add to that the footnotes - so many footnotes! - and you know you’re in for a slow reading.
But this is good-I need a book to challenge and push me. The writing was conversational but academic at the same time.
I wore out my favorite highlighter marking up this book! Here’s one section that stood out:
“The heart is the soil from which our desire grows. When the heart is cultivated, good desires grow.”
And…
“We will grow whatever we water in our gardens. The unattended garden will soon be overrun with weeds; the heart that fails to cultivate truth and root out error will shortly be a theological wilderness.”
But this is good-I need a book to challenge and push me. The writing was conversational but academic at the same time.
I wore out my favorite highlighter marking up this book! Here’s one section that stood out:
“The heart is the soil from which our desire grows. When the heart is cultivated, good desires grow.”
And…
“We will grow whatever we water in our gardens. The unattended garden will soon be overrun with weeds; the heart that fails to cultivate truth and root out error will shortly be a theological wilderness.”
January 16, 2025
Having read Swoboda's book about deconstruction, I knew I'd be reading something thoughtful and responsibly nuanced. I was not disappointed. Drawing on his experiences as a college professor teaching Christian and non-Christian students, as well as his time as a minister, A.J. crafts a great book discussing the confusion around our desires. The author didn't just discuss why our desires become disordered, but he offered solutions that had a deep foundation in Scripture. He did this all without beating the reader over the head, shaming us, and instead, approaches it in a way that brings Christ-centered healing. If you desire (no pun intended), then, a holistic examination of how Christians can view and express desire, I recommend this book.
February 27, 2026
This book has been a beautiful gift. According to my evangelical upbringing, desire is always bad, and the withholding of desire is always good. How anemic and totally incomplete that was!
Swoboda writes in wonderful way to show how desire and longing are often times very good. "We were created by God to desire God and those things God created us to desire" (food, air, water, relationships, companionship).
That being said, desire can be dangerous and having every desire of the flesh isn't actually good for us.
"Christlikeness is found in the daily work of laying down our desires of the flesh for the sake of faithfulness to Jesus."
I'm very grateful for the author's work of unpacking this misunderstood topic.
Swoboda writes in wonderful way to show how desire and longing are often times very good. "We were created by God to desire God and those things God created us to desire" (food, air, water, relationships, companionship).
That being said, desire can be dangerous and having every desire of the flesh isn't actually good for us.
"Christlikeness is found in the daily work of laying down our desires of the flesh for the sake of faithfulness to Jesus."
I'm very grateful for the author's work of unpacking this misunderstood topic.
March 25, 2024
Wow, thankful for a God who desires us, desires me, desires you.
“On the cross, Jesus wears the burden of our sin’s weight. We were given a world of thorns upon our fall. Our lives become painful, difficult, tempestuous, and frustrated. Life leaves much to be desired. Still, that is not the end of the story. Love has let us know we are desired. And those thorns that were ours have been put on another. Indeed, the one who bore those thorns is God’s greatest gift.”
“We’re made to love rightly. We all have disordered loves, be it loving something too much, loving something not enough, loving things we shouldn’t, or neglecting to love things we should.”
“On the cross, Jesus wears the burden of our sin’s weight. We were given a world of thorns upon our fall. Our lives become painful, difficult, tempestuous, and frustrated. Life leaves much to be desired. Still, that is not the end of the story. Love has let us know we are desired. And those thorns that were ours have been put on another. Indeed, the one who bore those thorns is God’s greatest gift.”
“We’re made to love rightly. We all have disordered loves, be it loving something too much, loving something not enough, loving things we shouldn’t, or neglecting to love things we should.”
December 2, 2024
4.5 stars
Really enjoyed this book on desires. I like how the author went through a sequence of the origins of desire, where desires went wrong, and the need to reign them back in.
The connection to the title was a little lost on me, since right desires wouldn't seem like thorns, but overall, this book left me thinking and contemplating the desires in my own life.
Really enjoyed this book on desires. I like how the author went through a sequence of the origins of desire, where desires went wrong, and the need to reign them back in.
The connection to the title was a little lost on me, since right desires wouldn't seem like thorns, but overall, this book left me thinking and contemplating the desires in my own life.
April 2, 2025
Based on the title I was assuming this book would be about suffering and using Paul’s thorn in his flesh. It turns out it was on desire, how it’s disordered and distorted by sin, but restored through Jesus beginning today and finishing in heaven. It was a great read, but like another reviewer wrote, I’m not quite sure the title properly communicated what it was about.
January 4, 2025
I’m instantly a fan of AJ Swoboda. This is the first time I’ve read his work and I absolutely loved it. This is an honest and hopeful wrestle with desire and I loved how he weaved the imagery of thorns from Genesis to Revelation.
April 3, 2024
Beautiful
October 25, 2024
I really enjoyed this book and the dive into desire! I'd give it 4.5 starts because I would read this again and probably will, but I think it left me looking for a bit more practical application.
April 13, 2025
must read book for 2025, at least for me!
October 22, 2025
I wish I had a physical copy of this book so I could underline many profound things.
January 7, 2026
Very good book. Both insightful and devotional. Will read more from A. J. Swoboda in the future!
January 17, 2026
The topic is interesting and I loved the broad range of quality work the author pulled from and noted. I just didn’t find this book very interesting.
March 18, 2026
Incredible book outlining the origin of desire, formation of desire, the killing of desire and the birth of longing.
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