The Dangers of Lust: A Call to Purity and Faithfulness
There was a video on TikTok I saw the other day. It was a clip from a larger video discussing parts of the Old Testament. These are very prominent voices in our day and age who have a vast influence on those they speak to. I enjoy listening to these men and what they usually have to say, however, I disagreed with a point they were making and I think it’s an important issue which plagues our society today more than ever.
These men were discussing pornography and whether or not it is wrong to lust after someone. One man specifically said if it’s not acted on and doesn’t negatively affect the relationship which someone is in then it really isn’t a problem. He believed sometimes it could enhance the relationship with the other person. There are a ton of issues with this line of thinking and I wanted to take some time to address some of them in this article.
First, the reason Jesus states if someone looks upon another woman with lust in their hearts it’s adultery is because we are setting ourselves a place for sin within our hearts. Man does not just commit an act without first having a desire or thought to do so. Just because you don’t act on something doesn’t mean you aren’t tempting yourself into something sinful. It’d be like being an alcoholic and you’ve been sober for 10 years yet you walk by the liquor store for a look into the window or you sit in a bar to experience the ambience. These are just deep longings for the things of the past which you know are wrong. Think of it this way, if there’s nothing wrong with lusting after another woman or man then why not just tell your significant other about it and see what happens. Obviously it’s more of a selfish issue. We want to fulfill our desires whether wholesome or not and if we can’t do it physically we do it spiritually.
We may think having these thoughts and playing around with them is fine but when it comes to corroding our thoughts about women and how we treat them or men and how we want our spouses to act we can see a reflection in our relationships. We tend to put these subconscious desires onto our partners and when we don’t get what we want we start lashing out. This results in divorce, separation, and physical adultery, it even leads to other perversions of the heart. The normalization of pedophilia, the gay rights agenda, the rates of divorce have all gone up. These would all be considered abominations in the eyes of God.
When we set up a place in our hearts for satan we open up a place for demonic oppression, we open up a place for fleshly desires to be fulfilled, but we open up a doorway to death and destruction. A second reason to be weary of lusting is because God says so.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Exodus 20:17
Obedience to God is one of the most important things we can do if not the most important. If we don’t obey God we won’t begin to love others as ourselves or restrain ourselves from taking things we want at our discretion.
Adultery is representative of idolatry. When people worshiped other gods they were committing spiritual adultery against God. We don’t usually understand why God tells us something but it doesn’t matter, God is the ultimate source for life, truth, and fulfillment. Even if we don’t understand God does and we should rely on His goodness not our understanding. Our understanding leads us to biting the fruit of disobedience which leads us to Hell. So let us remember our marriage covenants with God and let us take up our crosses and crucify our flesh daily. Let us take every thought captive and give our minds over to Christ. Let us renew our minds thinking what is lovely, pure, noble, good, patient, kind hearted, good for doctrine and for reproof. Let us be changed by the Holy Spirit so we will not look like the world but be transformed by His power.
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