October 10, 2019 – Click here to listen
Lust – The word itself generally makes people cringe and with an embarrassed look glance down. Most dictionaries define it as intense sexual desire. What does the Bible have to say about lust?
For one thing it doesn’t link lust just to sexual desire. The apostle John tells us in 1 John 2 not to love the world or the things in it. He warned, “If anyone loves the world, the love of God is not in him.” John went on to say, “For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world.”
Hmmm . . . 1. Lust of the flesh 2. Lust of the eyes 3. The pride of life
Lust of the flesh is 1/3 of the lust equation; it of course refers to powerful physical temptations especially sexual sin. Lust of the eyes refers to greed, envy, material things, and extravagance. Pride of life is the arrogant desire to be recognized and is often associated with wealth, or a thirst for position and a desire to appear important.
If we allow it, the lust of the world will suck our heart-for-God right out of us, and the more the love of the world prevails, the more the love of God decays. Sensual pleasures last only a brief moment of time and ultimately sexual desire fades and ceases altogether. The grandeur of possessions is an illusion for they will rot away and disappear in due time. And the applause, honor, power and pomp of the elite are like birds flying away as they fade into obscurity
A quick look at King Solomon teaches us these lessons. The old king was brutally frank as he discussed his life in Ecclesiastes. He had 1000 wives and concubines give or take, he was fabulously wealthy, he had power, fame, great accomplishments; however, a visit to Israel will confirm it is all gone now, save some rubble covered in vines left over from once fabulous temples. The book concludes in 12:13 with this summation, When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.
Jesus had not been born when Solomon reigned, and thus his outlook was rather bleak for he knew he had sinned greatly. Jesus offers the only eternal hope available to us through His sacrifice for our sins on the cross. Solomon had discovered that the riches, the power, the pomp, the beautiful people, the lust of the pleasures of the world were not enough. He repeatedly states that all of life is vanity, a useless exercise. He is right in that the things of the world quickly fade and die away, but the love of God and the sacrifice of Jesus shall never fail and therein lies the hope. God was not his focus for much of his life – The lust of what the world had to offer was.
The victory that we seek begins in the heart and is synonymous with the love of God. Lust corrupts the heart and is so alluring that without constant watchfulness and prayer, we cannot escape the lusts of the world, or obtain victory over Satan, the god and prince of it.
We must try our utmost to follow Jesus and be like Him to the extent possible. Our lives would be so much better if we could consciously do this throughout each and every day. I have a sign on my desk that I look at every day that is a great reminder of how we should live our lives. It simply states, “Don’t follow the world – Follow Jesus Christ.”
The love of Jesus Christ begins in the heart and is demonstrated by how we live our lives. Don’t allow Satan to break yours!
1 John 3:2
“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”