Most people know the horror of being on a diet. It is, unquestionably, miserable. But the only thing that is going to keep you dieting is if the thought of losing weight is more desirable to you than the thought of eating whatever you want. If cake is more desirable to you than weight loss, your diet is going nowhere.

This is similarly true of the Christian life. Serving Jesus and following his commands can be genuinely hard. There is no denying that. It involves much sacrifice and self-denial. What on earth is going to keep you going when that is on offer?

The short answer is this: Jesus must be more desirable than your sin. Jesus must be more desirable to you than your selfish desires. Jesus, his commands, his kingdom and his gospel must be more desirable to you than anything else or else something else will be.

Jesus himself said, ‘Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.’ His point is that, even amongst our most treasured things, he must be our highest treasure of all.

The truth is, we need our desires to change. By nature, we are sinful. By nature, we incline towards sin. Our desires point us in sin’s direction, always. But when the Holy Spirit changes us, our desires change and our values change so that we most highly value Jesus. If Jesus isn’t our highest desire, something else will be.