This post is my contribution to the One Word at a Time Blog Carnival. To see the other entries to the carnival, visit Bridget Chumbley’s site. It’s well worth it!
Here are my thoughts on the subject:
Whether we like to admit it or not, we all suffer from lust, or to put it a little more bluntly, we all commit the sin of lust.
Although lust traditionally refers to sexual feelings, it can equally be used to describe deep cravings and desires for material possessions.
Whether we are lusting after someone we know, a celebrity or the latest gadget our desire reaches far further and deeper than simple admiration and moves into the territory of jealousy, idolatry and even adultery at heart.
Jesus told us:
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:28)
Can you imagine the heartbreak, the pain, the turmoil that would be created by you having an affair. Most of us can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to have to tell our husband or wife that we had committed adultery – and the fear of what may happen might be one of the things that keeps us from having an affair. Yet you have probably committed adultery in your heart more than once in your marriage… possibly even every week or every day.
When you have lustful thoughts about your favorite movie star or singer, when you fantasize about past boy/girlfriends, when you imagine what it would be like to have a fling with that guy or girl in your office, even though you don’t plan on taking your thoughts to a physical level, you’ve already done the deed in your heart. You’re already an adulterer.
So, when you hear about that guy who had an affair, or that woman who cheated on her husband. When you read about the pastor who has fallen from grace because of some indiscretion, just remember that you are guilty of the same sin. Before you condemn others for their weakness, remember Jesus’ words when faced with such people:
If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone… (John 8:7)
I always find that passage disturbing and sobering. We talk so much about how Jesus' mercy overcomes the punishment for sin, and yet we don't stop as much to ponder that he clarified just how deep sin is. We need to grasp mercy and condemnation together so that we can respect and weep for the mercy we receive.
In the OT, the punishment for adultery is execution. Jesus equates the fantasy of the act with the act itself. The mind has already made itself up. The body just hasn't caught up yet. The mind is accountable. Jesus says if we *lust*, we merit execution.
Death.
Pain. Hurt. Dismemberment. Blood. Injury. Mortal wound. Loss of life.
That's what we deserve for it.
Thank God for mercy. And I don't say that patronizingly. Thank. God. For. Mercy.
He said something about worrying abotu the plank in our eye before we worry about the splinter in our brother's eye. This is about all of us, and the right response isn't condemnation but what He gave us — love, mercy, tenderness, forgiveness. Good post, Peter.
I totally agree! Good post!
It’s easy to pass off our thoughts and desires as “not quite as sinful” as things we actually do. We can’t forget who we are when we think nobody’s watching – because He sees it all. And when I read that verse about the “plank in your eye” I’m reminded how a teeny little speck in the eye can be SO painful – that must be what our sin looks like to God. Articulate thoughts, Peter!
I've seen a few friends fail miserably because they gave in to lust outside their marriage. It is amazing how something that seems so harmless at first can be so incredibly destructive. Thanks, Peter!
Same goes with hate and murder by Jesus' standards. Good post.
This reminded me of a pastor who started coming to our church (sitting in the congregation, not preaching) because he had been forced to leave his position as pastor in his own church. I was a young teenager at the time and I remember my dad gently explaining the situation to us and why we needed to love this preacher. He was not condoning his actions in any way…just reminding us that we're all sinners and need to extend the same love to others that we have been given. It was a powerful lesson for me to learn at an age where the lesson taught has stuck.
You’re exactly right, Peter. I think it’s harder for us to comprehend because everyone else would say the physical affair is much “worse” and we believe that instead of God’s word. We have this “I’m not hurting anyone” attitude about some of these things and we don’t realize that we absolutely are.
Thanks.
Yes, I'm totally guilty of lust. Thank you for the post, the reminder, and the encouragement to seek God through it and help others through it.
-Marshall Jones Jr.
I completely agree, Peter. And like Jason said… it's so easy to convince ourselves what we're doing isn't really a big deal, because what someone else is doing is 'so much worse'… I'm guilty of this far too often!
Thanks for these thoughts.
yup
Enjoyed the post Peter. I didn't have time to write an article on this today, but yours reminded me of something my friend said: "We are ALL TIGER WOODS given the right opportunity and without The Holy Spirit." I've got to agree. We can very easily judge someone for their faults, but what we don't realize is that it could very easily be us.
It all starts in the heart before it becomes tangible…
Good call Peter. It ties in well with what I had to say. PS I'm still praying for you.
Great post. You know, I always get a little miffed when people (especially married people, but it's no good for singles, either) gush and lust over famous people. Do they think that because they're famous, they're not really "real"? It's not really "sin" because it's a movie star?
I know a married couple that once told me they had an agreement. If he ever had the opportunity with Angelina Jolie, and/or if she ever had the opportunity with, um, I can't remember who, so >insert hot guy here<, that would be their one "freebie." No questions asked. Adultery is permitted with that one person. I'm sure it was all a joke, but the intentions were not…
That kind of attitude gets on my nerves, too.
I think it is disrespectful to one's spouse to openly gush over a famous person. As for a "freebie"? YUCK!
Yeah, I know. :/
A pastor here lost his place at the front of his congregation because of his lust for another woman. He told the story of his daughter coming to him and saying, "When you least deserve love is when you need it the most."
And that is God's grace for all of us. When we least deserve his love and forgiveness is when we need it the most. And it is always there.
Peter,
At first, I was going to write my post on how it made me feel to shockingly learn that I was conceived from adultery. My birth parents were both married with children at the time. But quite honestly, having been raised in an adoptive family with white carpet, white walls, and everything made to look too nice and pretty all for show, the truth was a little unsettling. I've been asked if I am ashamed of how I was brought into this world. What I struggle with is how deeply my birth parent's selfish choices (lust) have hurt many loved ones that still struggle after all these years to find forgiveness in their hearts. And instead they have unintentionally taken it out on me–the innocent child.