Undisclosed Desires

I used to identify my Christianity as "Protestant", "Baptist", or "Non-Denominational". Now, I prefer just to say that I am a believer and follower of Jesus Christ. I realize that all across the Christian spectrum, there are those in every camp who are believers in name only and not with their lives.

I have a dear friend, Carrie, who is Catholic, and she introduced me to Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body. While I do not wholeheartedly embrace all things Catholicism teaches (and neither do I Protestantism), I embrace this teaching that we are created in the image of God, that male bodies and female bodies don't make sense on their own, that procreation is a beautiful picture of the relationship between Christ and the Church, that in our sinful humanity our desires for fulfillment have become twisted and inverted so that we bear shame and seek to fulfill them ourselves with things that do not fill. I love this teaching--it is beautiful and resonates so strongly with my spirit.

I begin to see the same longings in hearts everywhere--it is apparent so boldly in our films and our music. Christopher West, the leading Catholic educator (in America) of Theology of the Body, is quite adept at seeing these in lyrics. Carrie showed me a blog that he and Bill Donaghy write called Twisted Mystics. They hash out song lyrics that reveal our hearts' true longings that can only be fulfilled by Jesus Himself. Here is my own submission to their blog--Muse's Undisclosed Desires:

I know you've suffered
But I don't want you to hide
It's cold and loveless
I won't let you be denied

Soothing
I'll make you feel pure
Trust me
You can be sure

I want to reconcile the violence in your heart
I want to recognise your beauty's not just a mask
I want to exorcise the demons from your past
I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart

You trick your lovers
That you're wicked and divine
You may be a sinner
But your innocence is mine

Please me
Show me how it's done
Tease me
You are the one

I want to reconcile the violence in your heart
I want to recognise your beauty's not just a mask
I want to exorcise the demons from your past
I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart

Please me
Show me how it's done
Trust me
You are the one

I want to reconcile the violence in your heart
I want to recognise your beauty's not just a mask
I want to exorcise the demons from your past
I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart

Now, that you've read these lyrics, go back and reread them as if they were spoken by Jesus. I realize that may sound blasphemous to some, but seriously, consider what it would be like if Jesus were to say these things to you (I realize this may be difficult for those of you in the male arena). We hear a man speaking to a woman here--a woman who has gone down the wrong road, again and again, seeking fulfillment from her lovers. They never satisfy her emptiness. She has come to believe that she has nothing to offer. She is worthless and ashamed. This man speaking to her says he believes he can heal her--show her what she's worth. He wants to cleanse her of her past, show her she's more than her pretty face, show her she has something to offer--she is altogether pleasing.

Are you seeing the parallel? I love this song. If you haven't heard it, go HERE.

Doesn't Jesus want the same thing for us? Doesn't He want us to see that we are the One for Him? Doesn't He want to purify and cleanse us from our demons and our past? Doesn't He want us to see that we are pleasing to Him and beautiful in His sight? Doesn't He want to fulfill our desires perfectly?

We are so loved.