Lust

If we see someone abusing drugs, and we have an unrenewed mind, we may lust to abuse drugs. If we have a renewed mind, we may have compassion for the person abusing drugs, pray for the person to be released from sin and secured in a relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. God may even give us a revelation regarding how to intervene in the drug abuser's life to point him or her toward God's exuberant, enjoyable, eternal life and relationship.

Lust is a wrong way of thinking. It is self-absorption. It manifests an unwillingness to care for a person in a particular area. Lust can manifest itself in different ways in multiple people because different people have different thoughts and feelings in response to the same situation.

Lust may be sexual. As Rafael, my son, and I were walking several Sundays ago we saw a young adult wearing a T-shirt saying, "I just want to f-ck you" without the edit. I guess knowing a person's name or any other details is beyond his requirements to engage in sexual acts.

Sexual standards are low in our culture with many choosing to engage in sex after a first date or soon after. God promises that we will reap what we sow. Consequently, many of these relationships are doomed to die. Bradley Gerstman, Esquire, Christpher Pizzo, CPA, and Rich Seldes, MD, say in their book, What Men Want, "We do not recommend inviting a man into your house after the first date, nor do we recommend going to his house. . . . No man wants to think the woman of his dreams is promiscuous. . . . A good-night kiss on the lips, well given and well received, is the perfect end to the first date."

Lust is not just sexual. We can have an intense, inappropriate desire for anything.

God requires us to pay attention to our thought life. Our thoughts are who we are. We will act out many of our thoughts. Proverbs 23:7 Amplified Bible says, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he . . ."

In America we live in a free society and will be exposed to many sights and other sensory stimuli that are not in agreement with Biblical principles. Many times we will not be able to avoid the stimuli, but believers have been given the mind of Christ and the Holy Spirit fruit of self-control to train our thinking to operate in alignment with God's thinking.

Some thoughts and stimuli are worth keeping. Others need to be pitched out. Romans 12:1-2 New Living Translation Bible says, "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice--the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."

While one can lust for sex, marital sex is not sinful. God celebrates sex. God encourages married couples to do it over and over again counseling them to copulate in way that is fruitful and multiplies. Also marital sex need not be the missionary every single time. Please read my article, "Novel Sex."

Some in sexless marriages need to simply shake off sin, choose to have sex often, then do it. The doing may create the desiring. L'Appétit vient en mangeant. (The more you get the more you want). Ed and Lisa Young wrote the New York Times best-selling book, Sexperiment, recommending that married couples try an experiment of seven consecutive days of sex to spice up and solidify their marriage relationship.

Please share ways to choose love instead of lust.