Lust

The fifth deadly sin is lust.  All kinds of images come to mind when we hear the word lust.  Our first thought is usually sexual, but there are many forms of lust.  Lust for money, lust for power, lust for fame and the list goes on.  Lust is defined as, “a passionate or overmastering desire or craving“.  It is healthy to be passionate about something.  I am passionate about raising my child, about writing and helping others.  When that passion turns into an all-consuming, overmastering desire, we have lost control.

At the core of lust is self-pleasure that all too often leads to less than wholesome behavior.  We see it everyday in the headlines: adultery, murder, theft, drugs, etc.  We want to please ourselves and have no regard for who gets hurt along the way.  We are foolish enough to think we will never get caught, that there will be no consequences if we don’t get caught.  Lust starts out as an occasion, turns into a habit and then becomes our master.

We acquire money enough for comfort and want more.  We acquire status at our workplace and then want a better title.  We are thirsty for more and yet won’t drink from the well that quenches all desire for more.  Advertisements are designed to make us lust for what we do not have.  We convince ourselves we need whatever it is to fill the emptiness we feel.  Again and again, we attempt to satisfy ourselves with temporary things.

You may find it hard to believe but the opposite of lust is love.  Lust is about some thing or some one because of what it or he can offer us.  Love expects nothing in return and wants the best for the other person.  Lust is a temporary high while love is the life-long journey that connects us to others.

For years I found myself lusting for a child.  I have three children by marriage that I love very much, but I wanted a child of my own.  The desire to have a child consumed me to the point of ignoring my own family.  I lusted when I saw pregnant women and small babies.  It was my first and last thought each day.  I would have done anything to become pregnant, until I did what I needed to do.  I let go of the lust, the desire.  I focused on what I had, three beautiful daughters.  Of course, you know what happened, I got pregnant. When I got control of the lust it turned into the beautiful love of my now three year old daughter.

John 15:13 (NLT) “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  Are you willing to lay down your own personal lusts for the love of your friends and family?  Are you willing to deny yourself for the greater good of mankind?  I challenge you to take a look at the things you lust after.  I challenge you to take that energy that you are using in lust and apply it to something for someone else.  I challenge you to turn a temporary desire into a life-changing love.