The Battle Against Lust

Date: October 10, 2015

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Lust has been viewed as a semi-innocuous, more subtle form of sin that has not been taken very seriously by many Christians by-and-large. When people think about lust, they often envision some sex-hungry person who sleeps around or who hires prostitutes and engages in debauchery and other immoral acts. To the ignorance of many, lust has a much less obvious side to it, but one that is just as corrupting and toxic to us. Lust is like a cancer that begins to grow in one place but then quickly spreads and rapidly infects other areas of our lives. It can be like a silent killer that dwells in the darkness of our soul and then rears its ugly head to cause all kinds of destruction and havoc.

When it comes to the more non-obvious forms of lust such as viewing pornography or being involved in other sexually immoral behavior (e.g., sexual relations outside of marriage) that is perfectly condoned in our society, many people including Christians do not think it is all that important of an issue. Of course, if you would ask them to declare if their actions are right or wrong, I don’t think many Christians would argue that they are doing what is “right.” However, we rarely let that be the determining factor for many of our actions in life. We can all too easily come up with self-justifying reasons why it is not so bad after all, or just being involved a little bit doesn’t really mean anything, or if we just do it once it will not be that big a deal. Unfortunately, such self-deception and ploys of the Enemy have enable lust to find firm footing in the lives of many believers. And it is the Christian who does not recognize the darkness that lurks in their soul and the gravity of what they are involved in who is the most susceptible to the influences and temptations that lust brings. And pursuing the desires of our flesh leads us further away from pursing the things of God. ~JW