Curious Christian

It struck me recently, when reading Buddhist teaching about the five desires (of wealth, fame, food, sleep, and sex) just how much overlap there is with the seven deadly sins from Christian tradition. We’ve named them differently (greed, pride, gluttony, sloth, lust, and so on) but the heartbeat behind them is familiar: a warning against letting our appetites rule us. A call to see how easily our desires, when left unchecked, turn us inward, distort our relationships, and pull us away from the deeper freedom we were made for.

I find it beautiful when different traditions, even with all their differences, speak to similar truths. It tells me we’re not as far apart as we sometimes think. And maybe it gives us a starting point, a place to listen and learn from one another.

But I also find myself wanting to press further. Not just naming the problem, but asking: what sets us free? How do we move beyond the grip of desire, not just by detaching from the world, but by being reattached to something greater?

In my own journey, I’ve come to believe that freedom isn’t found in suppression or escape, but in surrender—to love, to grace, to the One who made us. Jesus doesn’t just warn against disordered desire; he offers a new way of living life to the full. One shaped not by striving or grasping, but by giving.

So I guess this is me wondering out loud. Wondering if maybe, in all our wrestling with desire (whether we name them five or seven) we’re being drawn toward something deeper. Maybe even someone.