1 John 2:16-17
“For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”
Do you ever think much about the sin of lust? When I say that, I mean, do you often evaluate your own heart and mind for ways you might be lusting? To lust, as in the opening verses of 1 John 2:16-17 means to have a very strong desire for something that does not come from God. We all struggle with resisting “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” even if we don’t often think of it as a problem for ourselves. Today I want to talk about the Bible’s commands against lust and the way this sin hurts us and others.
Now, if you go to do a word study on “lust” in the Bible, you will find that that word is not as commonly used as some of the other sins described in Scripture. However, it is always used in a negative way referring to strong, wrong desires of the heart—either sexually or in an idolatrous way (from Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology). One of the most notable passages from the Bible that talks about lust comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5:27-30
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”
In this famous sermon, Jesus walks through several Old Testament commandments, adding specific emphasis on the sinful heart in those actions rather than just how the Jewish people had practiced them. In the verses we just read, Jesus addresses the commandment to not commit adultery from Exodus 20:14. In Jesus’ words, we commit adultery not just when we commit actual sexual sin with someone we are not married to, but also when we look at someone lustfully. From other biblical teachings about the mind and heart, we can also translate that to mean that just thinking about someone lustfully is committing the sin of adultery.
Whether we’ve ever admitted it or not, all of our hearts are prone to commit adultery by lusting. Do you like romance novels or movie dramas? What about romantic comedies? Are you okay with nudity or sex scenes in your entertainment choices? Love stories do not necessarily equal sin, but where do they take your thinking? The Bible equates lustful thoughts with adultery and therefore with sexual sin, and God has strong words concerning that type of immorality:
1 Corinthians 6:18
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.
Lust seems like a secret sin that you keep only in your mind and no one knows about. Yet Paul here describes how that “hidden” sin is actually harming our own bodies. We may not be having an affair with someone, but entertaining sexual thoughts and desires about anyone who is not our spouse is lust. We are committing adultery which hurts our relationship with God and others. Throughout the Bible, God uses the picture of adultery to show how His people forget His love and choose to follow idols and sinful desires. When we are desiring someone sexually or imagining sexually provocative scenes in our minds, we are choosing to follow our sinful desire rather than God’s perfect Word.
The sin of lust also hurts our relationship with others. If you are single, giving into lustful thoughts distorts your view of God’s design for marriage. We are tempted to view others as how they might please us, rather than as fellow image-bearers of our God, deserving of dignity, love, and respect. If you are married, giving into lustful thoughts hurts your ability to love and serve your spouse well. Our intimacy can be damaged because we are so dependent on our imagination that it is difficult to enjoy God’s good gift without lusting.
Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
We are all adulterers. Whether it be from giving into lustful thoughts or worshipping anything else other than God, we are all guilty. But for those of us in Christ, we are not slaves to wrong habits of thinking and acting.
Ephesians 5:8-13
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.
There is freedom in bringing our sins to light, in walking by the Spirit rather than by the flesh. Trusting in Jesus means we get to cling to Him, the one true light, as He said in John 8:12—“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
While this is a darker, heavier topic to consider, I pray that you will take time to think through these passages and what they may reveal about your own heart struggles. This was a harder, convicting sin for me to reflect on as well, but I am so thankful for the fruit of the Spirit being produced in my life as I seek to put off more sin, to renew my mind with the hope of Scripture, and to walk in righteousness. I pray that our God of comfort and peace will help direct your heart and mind this week as you reflect on the pain sin causes and the power we have in Christ over those sins.
Thank you for listening or reading to Speaking Truth, and I look forward to evaluating more of the effects sin has on us and others in the coming weeks.
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