Some may object to what I said yesterday as regards human beings. It would appear that human beings often desire things far removed from God. In fact, human beings, given a free will by God, are uniquely able to pursue that which offends God. This we call sin.
A genocidal madman or a serial killer or abuser can hardly be said to desire to return to God.
Neither can those who outrightly reject God, or who believe intellectually in Him but profess to hate Him.
And even those who believe in God and profess to desire a life that pleases Him will be often annoyed by His intrusion into their lives -- as when we desire a particular thing for ourselves, like gossip or excesive drinking, but our consciences, informed by the Holy Spirit, forbid us.
So persons at every level of virtue and wickedness can be said to at least very often desire something far removed from God, some may argue.
While there may be some truth to the above, I maintain that all people, either by nature or by instinct or by will, do desire to return to God. Even if consciously we do not with our wills desire to return to Him, even so by our nature we desire to do so. The definition of original sin is that our wills desire one thing and nature desires another.
In other words, even when we profess to hate God, we love Him in spite of ourselves, in the sense that we are drawn to Him. Whatever we seek in the short term, we do so in hopes of obtaining some larger and further good, and beyond that another, and another, until we reach the ultimate good. That ultimate good is God, whether we like it or not.
Those who believe in an desire to please Him will often understand that what they desire in any given moment is not the thing in itself, like gossip or excessive drinking, but the good that lies beyond it, like notoriety or appreciation, or relaxation and comfort from one's troubles. Those things are all good things, pleasing to God, and it pleases Him that we should experience them either at His direct giving or by way of other persons, but not by way of that which offends Him.
And in fact those goods are more truly achieved in a way that pleases God rather than offends Him. The drunk will not still have comfort from his burdens tomorrow morning, nor the gossiper his appreciation. What one desires when he is tempted to gossip or excess is, in reality, God, whose love overflows.
The same goes for the unbelievers -- those who denounce God with their words abd those extreme evildoers who grievously offend Him with genocide or abuse. The evils that they and believers perpetrate are always ultimately because they seek happiness and fulfillment for themselves, or sometimes others, which means naturally they will be, in spite of themselves and albeit in a very confused way, drawn to God.
Indeed, for some who are determined not to desire to God, that want that they have in their natures can repulse them. But that natural desire is part of who they are, which means they hate a part -- the truest part -- of themselves. They wish it gone. But there it is. Always. Wherever they go. Which is why I am convinced part of the experience of Hell is eternal self-loathing.
St. Paul writes: "For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want." Why would one do the evil that one does not want? Because that evil will not achieve the good that one desires by nature. In other words, it will not bring one closer to God, which means it will not make the sinner happy. But every sinner desires that happiness, which can only be provided by God. So every sinner in spite of Himself desires to return to God.
Every man and woman seeks God, for every man and woman, from the most honorable to the most wicked, is created in His image and likeness. At every moment the human heart seeks Him out. The question is whether the human heart is getting warmer, or colder. The key to really drawing closer to the warmth of God is to consciously and actively desire with our wills that to which we are drawn by nature, which is God Himself.
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