When we hear the word lust, many times we think about forbidden sexual appetite. Lust is a lot broader than that. The word “lust” has to do with anything that is motivated by fleshly or soulish desires. It is about those appetites and passions that are self-focused and are led by the flesh.
There are many symptoms of lust in our society. We live in a culture that thrives to impress and be impressed. Magazines and various TV programs elevate various sports or entertainment figures to positions of wisdom, knowledge, and know it all. These stars give us advice on marriage, parenting, or spirituality. There is an assumption that just because they are successful in one arena that translates into other arenas.
People are also very curious about stars and how they live their lives and what is important to them. The bottom line is that we live in an era where we want to impress and be impressed by others. People feel that if everybody knows about what they are doing, they are important and they can feel valued.
That kind of thinking has crept into the church and Christians have a tendency to make Christian stars out of men and women of God who are here to serve Him. Some even have their own personal desire to be a star at least in their local church and then possibly in the greater body of Christ. There are others who have a desire to write a book about their lives and let the world know the difficulties they have encountered and how they overcame them.
There is nothing wrong with testifying about the power of God and what He has done in our lives. We’re called to be His witnesses. It is also important to honor those who labor among us. However, in the midst of it all we need to consider how much of this is led by carnality and how much is led by the Spirit. Are we infatuated by someone or are we impacted by God? Those who are led by lust can think someone is great and wonderful in one moment, but at the first sign of disappointment can jump ship and abandon someone or an organization!
for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 1Corinthians 3:3
Carnality and lust are very closely associated with each other. They are dependent on the soulish realm and on the fleshly desires. A spiritual person’s goal should be to let go of carnality and lust and move in the Holy Spirit realm.
Before we knew Christ, we continually operated on lust and carnality. We were flaky people who were dependent upon our emotions, reasoning and will to understand life and making things happen. When we become a born again believer, we receive a new nature. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live life dependent on the Spirit. Now we need to re-train our will, emotion, and mind so they don’t operate independently anymore. They have a ruler and they need to take their orders from the Spirit.
How do we know if we walk in the spirit or in carnality and lust? This is what the below scripture tells us to be the symptom of carnality and lust:
Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ”James 4:1-4
According, to the above scripture, lust causes an internal war. It seeks for what it does not have, and it is willing to envy others for the strong desire that is warring in the heart. Lust is willing to take someone else out to have the desire fulfilled. Lust is willing to fight and war in the flesh for what it desires.
If someone is a fighter type of a person, they may be deceived into thinking that it is a spiritual war against the enemy, but all along it is their own internal battle. Jacob is good example of that. His issues were internal character issue of scheming and competing with his brother and had nothing to do with any spiritual attack from the enemy. Lust is about ensuring that self wins. It looks to be recognized, valued, and elevated. Lust seeks the worldly definition of success, honor, and possessions.
Lust has a time limit and will get impatient. It will desire to be seen. Lust enjoys being flattered and it flatters others. It is insecure in relationships and tries to control them and move the relationship in a certain direction. Lust is easily impressed and has an idealistic view of things and as a result it is easily disappointed. Lust has no problem forsaking people or projects because they are not going according to the person’s agenda. Basically lust is controlled by external stimuli. This causes great instability in the person’s actions or emotions. Lust keeps things at the soulish or carnal level by depending on the will, emotion, and the mind to navigate through life. Lust is rooted in the pride of man and thinks about what is the benefit to the person.
In the next devotional, I will discuss how love operates differently from lust.
Let’s pray for the Lord to expose any form of lust in our hearts!