"God created humans with powerful desires for our enjoyment," says the Key Thought of this week’s lesson. It continues: "We, as Christians, need to keep those desires, which we should still enjoy, under divine control."

Some questions come to my mind: Why did God create us with this particular characteristic? Did he want us to submit our desires to his will? Or did he want us to be able to control our own desires in harmony with him?

Submission of the will is not a popular concept today. It is often viewed as a synonym of slavery, colonialism, exploitation, or any other unwelcome social condition.

From the psychological perspective, submission of the will is considered almost a pathology or disorder. A person unable to govern her/his own life, who is afraid to make her/his own decisions, is prone to submit her/his will to somebody else.

We have learned in past Sabbath School lessons that God gave us liberty so we can learn to make decisions in a responsible manner. For that reason, he never attempted to subdue our mind, nor did he interfere with Eve’s freedom. Adam was free to exercise his power to choose even though he and his wife ended up disobeying God’s command.

Humans had to learn on their own that appetite and selfish desires could control their lives. When humans fall under the slavery of drugs or any other lethal habit, they are not able to exercise their free will. In such cases, many submit their wills to human power: therapists, religious leaders, churches, sects, or even spiritualistic powers. So they pass from one submission to another.

What God wants for our lives is freedom. That means we can become autonomous persons. It does not mean we should become egotistic, selfish, insensitive, or unfaithful.

To be autonomous means to think on our own and to make our own decisions conscious of what we are doing. It means we should be accustomed to critical thinking. If we are not, we may become dogmatic, which means that we submit ourselves to the thoughts of others without discussion or intellectual analysis.

Dogmatism was not an attitude restricted to medieval religious leaders. It is alive today. It is not only a feature of some religious people, but also of political leaders. Science has not been free of dogmatism, either, as scientist Thomas Kuhn and epistemologist Paul Feyerabend have pointed out in recent years.

In order to advance in the knowledge and understanding of truth, we need to constantly criticize our beliefs with open minds and in permanent dialog within our communities, whether social, scientific, or religious. Religious communities have a great advantage, because true brotherhood may allow open discussion without fear of persecution. The love of God always produces trust and dissolves fear.

Religious dominance and persecution is not part of the divine model. Rather, it is a pattern that some religious people have copied from this world.

In science, truth may be discovered by contemplating natural reality, with an intense desire to know more about it. In religion, truth may be grasped and understood by contemplating supernatural revelation, praying to the Lord of our Desires that he illuminate our minds.

When God illuminates our lives he helps us surrender our selfish pride to him. Such surrender is not an act of submission. Instead, it establishes a relationship of love. The love of God is the reason he came into this world in human form to be our brother.

Jesus said to his disciples that he did not consider them servants, but friends (John 15:15). He has every right to call us servants, but he prefers to call us friends. That is an invitation for us to approach him in trust instead of fear. This is an lesson we need to learn. We shouldn’t try to dominate others. Such domination is a temptation for all of us, especially for those of us in positions of power.

Weakness is the characteristic of fallen humanity. Sometimes our domineering attitudes show evidence of our own weakness. It is because the Law of God cannot be perfectly reproduced by our weak and sinful flesh that Christ came to condemn sin and weakness (Rom. 8:3). Our Brother achieved the victory, and his merits may save our lives by faith in him, if we wish.

We may not be perfect because of our own achievements, but we may desire to be perfect in love in the likeness of Jesus.

Because of this, we are wise to surrender ourselves to his love. Doing so allows him to love us, which also lets him accept us as we are and permits him to give us the gift of his forgiveness. When we follow this course we are free—free to love our own being, to love our brothers and neighbors, and to love God.

That, as I understand, is a relationship of love. It means being recreated in the image of God. It means having our desires brought into harmony with his.

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