What About Lust?

Lust!!!

Do I have your attention yet?

We don't talk about lust much, but we should.  For there's more to lust after, other than God -- than ever before.

In the extreme, lust leads to adultery, as we not only desire someone intimately -- we're sexually active with someone physically -- outside a marital covenant.  

But scripture is clear:  don't go there.   For as Solomon warns in Proverbs 5 -- "…the lips of an adulteress drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword.  Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave…”  (Proverbs 5:3-5)  Thus Solomon argues:  “Why be captivated…by an adulteress?  Why embrace the bosom of another man’s wife…”  (Proverbs 5:20). 

But in Matthew 5, Jesus 'ups the ante,' arguing:  we embrace the bosom of another man’s wife – we commit adultery – not only by being sexually active physically – but by being sexually active mentally – as we lust after a man or women, other than our spouse.  

And so in Matthew 5 Jesus makes a provocative, gutsy statement:  “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’  But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with his heart…”  (Matthew 5:27-28). 

But 'come off it' Jesus!  Yes -- your words are technically correct -- but not actionable.  I mean we live in one of the most sexually saturated cultures in all history!  Why since 1998, sex scenes on TV have nearly doubled with 70% of TV programming now featuring explicit sexual content, as sexual images now average 5 images per hour!  www.flurtmag.com/2013/08/a-culture-saturated-in-sex.    But the Internet is worst – with 30% of all Internet traffic now devoted to pornography – as porn sites now receive more visitors per month than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter -- combined! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/03/internet-porn-stats_n_3187682.htm

But Jesus doesn't 'buy' our whining.  For Jesus argues there are options for fixation, beyond the unrighteous -- beginning with Him. Translated:  we can "turn our eyes toward Jesus," in the words of Helen Lemmel, looking "... full into His wonderful face..."  Helen H. Lemmel.  http://www.sharefaith.com/guide/Christian-Music/hymns-the-songs-and-the-stories/turn-your-eyes-upon-jesus-the-song-and-the-story.html

Frankly the outcome is impactful.  For as we fixate on Jesus, Jesus prompts us to fixate on those with whom we have covenant, beginning with our spouse (if we're married) turning our eyes toward the wife or husband of our youth (Proverbs 5:18), in fresh and eager ways.  

A practical way I do this is fixating on the very first picture Robin ever gave me.  Call me a hopeless romantic, but I still carry the first picture Robin ever gave me in my wallet, looking at that picture, and reading the inscription on the back, at least once a day: “I love you darling.”  Wow, what a great and nurturing word!

And so I want to challenge each of us who are married -- if you're not currently carrying a picture of your wife or husband in your wallet or a comparable place (e.g. the wallpaper of your smartphone!) – ‘make it happen’ today, and fixate on that image -- lusting after that God-gift – and not some other desire!

For lusting after the things of God is the only antidote for our natural tendency to lust for the wrong things -- unGodly things.  For as we yearn and thirst for the things of the Lord -- turning our eyes toward Jesus (and His righteousness) -- "...the things of earth..." again quoting Helen Lemmel "...will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace..."  Helen H. Lemmel   http://www.sharefaith.com/guide/Christian-Music/hymns-the-songs-and-the-stories/turn-your-eyes-upon-jesus-the-song-and-the-story.html