To choose to love lust is to choose not to love.
“The greatest of these is love.” -1 Corinthians
Lust is a counterfeit. Lust is an actor. Lust is a liar, and lust is a thief; an imposter. Lust is loved by many.
We live in a time where lust is not just prevalent but also welcomed and celebrated. People identify with it, boast of it, and live in it. Shacking up with this live-in-liar they have joined hands with sin.
It’s easy to lust, oh so easy. It is the demon that will ring the door bell but won’t wipe his feet. You don’t have to be dirty to struggle with lust. You don’t have to be incapable of genuine love. You are not the taboo of the church or the scum of the world. You’re just human.
— Now hold on, before you stop reading there and attempt to ride on the shirt-tail of God’s extended grace, listen to this. Yes, you are human. Yes, you may struggle or fail. However, that is not an excuse to keep on sinning. Serving Christ is a beautiful thing. It’s by believing in the crucifixion and resurrection and giving ourselves to Him that we are oh so mercifully and gracefully saved.
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh…And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. [Gal. 5:16,24]
Until we reach Heaven we simply can’t be rid of this skin and bone. Thank God that even though we’re human, encased in this flesh and all it’s desires, Jesus made a way that we might live apart from sin.
To be in Christ is to no longer be a slave to those lustful desires. It doesn’t mean they go away forever that temptations won’t come but it means you no longer live subject to them.
Lust is attractive because it kinda- sort- of feels like love. Lust can make you believe that dead beat is marriage material; that going home with that woman instead of your wife can be a secret quest leaving you more fulfilled. That consuming pornography isn’t damaging but natural.
Lust can be manifested in your life in more ways than one and if you aren’t careful you can find yourself under the influence of it’s deceitful charm. What so easily appeals to your flesh can attempt to imitate love, but it remains an imitation. No matter how it tries to be love, it cannot be love.
How? because God is love and God is one with the spirit and Galatians 5:17 says the spirit and the works of the flesh war against each other. Lust and God simply don’t go hand in hand. It’s got to go.
I believe the prescription for a lustful , sin-sick, heart is this: 2 nails and a cross.
Simply put but it only works if you take it daily and as many times a day as needed.
You are what you entertain. Just as the word reminds us “where your treasure is your heart will be also.”(Matthew 6:21)
Stop entertaining the passions and desires God has freed you from.
Take those nails and crucify that flesh, daily; everyday. Follow after God (love).
You’re a temple of the Holy Spirit. You’re so out of lust’s league anyway.