The Gospel, Discipleship and the Transformation of Our Desires (Part 1/3)
Author: Stef Miles
What Is the Goal of Discipleship?
What if the goal of Christian discipleship is not simply to make us better behaved, but to transform what we love, what we long for and, ultimately, what we desire?
Much of modern Christianity has understandably focused on behaviour. We often measure spiritual growth by asking questions like: What should Christians do? What habits should we stop? How can we become better people?
Of course, our actions matter. But Jesus seems to be interested in something deeper.
The gospel is not merely an invitation to behave differently. It is an invitation to become different kinds of people. Jesus does not simply want to modify our outward actions. He wants to transform the desires, loves and longings from which those actions flow.
Friend of the Network Andrew Marr OSB captures this beautifully in his book Moving and Resting in God’s Desire. He suggests that following Jesus is not first about trying harder to do God’s will, as though God’s will were simply a set of instructions handed down to us. Rather, discipleship is about learning to share in God’s desire. As we learn to desire what God desires, our lives gradually begin to reflect God’s will.
The Christian journey, then, is not simply about asking, “What would Jesus do?” but perhaps first asking: What does Jesus desire? Because our actions ultimately flow from our desires.
And this leads to a question that sits right at the heart of discipleship, and at the heart of this Network: Whose desires are shaping us?
Are we being formed by the desires of a world shaped by rivalry, competition, status and scarcity? Or are we being formed by Jesus, whose desire is completely free from rivalry and grounded instead in abundant, self-giving love?
This is why the focus of the Nonviolent Gospel Network is not simply on exploring what Christians should believe, but asking what kind of people those beliefs are forming us into. We are exploring what Christianity looks like when we really trust that God is as nonviolent as Jesus, and allow that vision to form us into people who love what Jesus loves, desire what Jesus desires, and embody his way of life.
Because the gospel is not only about receiving new information about God. It is about being transformed by encountering the God revealed in Jesus.
We Learn What to Desire
One of the most significant insights of French thinker René Girard is that human beings are not quite the autonomous creatures we often imagine ourselves to be. Beneath our sense of independence lies a deeply relational reality: we learn what to desire from one another.
Girard (1923–2015) was a literary theorist, philosopher and anthropologist whose work explored the hidden dynamics that shape human beings and communities. Through studying literature, mythology and human culture, Girard began to notice a recurring pattern. Human beings do not simply desire things because of their inherent value. Very often, we desire something because someone else has revealed it to us as desirable. This is referred to as mimetic desire.
The word mimetic comes from the Greek word mimesis, meaning imitation or copying. For Girard, mimetic desire describes the way human beings learn what to want by observing the desires of others.
Our desires, in other words, are not formed in isolation. They are shaped through relationship, imitation and participation in the desires we encounter around us. This challenges one of our deepest assumptions about ourselves. We tend to imagine that our desires originate somewhere deep inside us. I know what I want because I am me. Girard suggests it is far more complicated than that. As theologian James Alison puts it “We desire according to the desire of another.” Desire is not simply something we possess. In a very real sense, desire is something we receive.
Every parent has witnessed this. Two children are happily playing in a room full of toys. One child picks up an ordinary toy that has been completely ignored. Suddenly the other child wants exactly that toy. Within moments, a peaceful afternoon becomes a conflict.
The fascinating thing is that the toy itself has not changed. It has not suddenly become more valuable. What has changed is that another person has revealed its value. The toy has become desirable because someone else desires it.
More recently, I have noticed the sudden fascination with Capybaras. An animal that was previously relatively obscure seems to have become a cultural phenomenon, with Capybara-themed products appearing everywhere: pyjamas, cuddly toys, pencil cases and even ceramic flowerpots shaped like capybara heads.
It is possible this surge in interest was helped by the escaped capybara from Marwell Zoo, which captured public attention and introduced the animal to a much wider audience.
My own children have developed a surprising fascination with Axolotls too, another creature that, until relatively recently, few people would have been familiar with.
These examples may seem trivial, but they reveal something quite profound about human desire. Things often become desirable because they are desired by others. Desire spreads relationally. We discover what is valuable by seeing what other people value.
But Girard suggests something deeper is happening too. Ultimately, we are not simply attracted to objects themselves. We are attracted to what those objects appear to represent. When we see another person desire something, we unconsciously assume they see something there that we cannot yet see. Perhaps they possess something we lack. Perhaps they seem to have a way of being that we want for ourselves.
We see this all the time. When KSI and Logan Paul’s Prime drink appeared in the UK a number of years ago, demand became extraordinary. Shops struggled to keep it on shelves and some introduced limits on how many bottles customers could buy. The drink itself is not radically different from countless other drinks already available (not that I’ve tried it yet) Yet suddenly everyone wanted it. Why?
Well, in large part, because everyone else wanted it. But Girard would suggest something deeper was going on. Prime was connected to the people behind it. KSI and Logan Paul were not merely business owners. For a younger generation, they represented popularity, success, influence and belonging.
So buying Prime was not necessarily just about consuming a particular drink. In some small way, it offered participation in the identity and world these figures appeared to embody. The drink became desirable because the people behind it were desirable.
This is the deeper insight of mimetic desire. We often do not simply want things for what they are. We want what they seem to offer us: identity, belonging, significance, or perhaps some share in the life of the person whose desire first revealed that thing as valuable.
Think of a flashy sports car. Few people desire a luxury car simply because of its engineering. What often attracts us is what the car appears to represent: success, admiration, freedom, status or significance.
The deeper desire is not merely, “I want that object.” It is: “I want what that person appears to have.”
End or Part 1…