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I John 2:14-16 mentions three major sources of conflict in our lives: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. I suppose it is time now to begin to tackle these three individually. The first one seems the hardest for Christians many times; we think that we shouldn’t discuss certain things in church circles, so we don’t. But the lust of the flesh is a BIG problem for all people, including God’s people. What is the lust of the flesh? What is different about the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye? There is quite a bit of difference, really. “Lust” is eagerly wanting something in our lives that God does not allow us to have at a particular time. In the Bible the word “flesh” refers to our physical bodies. God made us as physical beings as well as spiritual beings, but He means for the physical to be under the control of the spiritual, not the other way around. God also made us with five basic senses of the body – tasting, smelling, seeing, hearing, and feeling. These five senses were given for our good and for our safety. If we cannot taste, we may eat things that are poison; if we cannot see, we can fall and hurt ourselves; if we cannot feel, we will touch things that will damage our bodies because they are too hot or too cold. We read about lepers in the Bible and believe that the reason lepers have no fingers is because the disease removes them. But the real cause of lepers losing fingers, toes, and other parts of the body is because they cannot feel pain. The nerves have been damaged by leprosy and the leper will push too hard on something and damage fingers or they will walk on hard rocks and damage their feet. This causes sores that eventually rot the flesh. This sounds terrible, but the same thing happens spiritually when we lust for something we are not supposed to have in our lives. It causes us problems that make parts of our lives rot and eventually kills us spiritually. The five senses are given to us because God wants us to enjoy life in areas of eating, smelling, hearing, feeling, and seeing. Can anything smell better than a fragrant flower? How much joy do we get from beautiful worship music that gives peace to our hearts? God also means for us to enjoy the sexual feelings that we have, but He says “No” to those feeling outside of marriage. He knows that within the commitment of marriage for a lifetime, we will be secure in our feeling for our mate and have enjoyment in that relationship. Marriage is a beautiful expression of how God loves the church. It is a lifetime commitment we make to another person to become one with them and possibly bring new life into the world. In the same way, God wants us to become one with Him and bring new life into His church by showing the world what a wonderful God we serve. In marriage we take responsibility for the other person to serve them, to protect them, to make them happy. In our relationship with God, He serves and protects us, blesses us and gives us joy. But outside of marriage we are only satisfying ourselves and not thinking about the other person’s needs. We are only satisfying the lust of the flesh. If we live close to the world and come to think the way they think, we will get the idea that we deserve to satisfy ourselves in many areas where God has put limits for our own good. God is not saying “No” to us forever; He is saying “No” for a short time, in order to mature us into people who will see the responsibilities that go with wanting to serve others rather than be served. Be patient, young people. You will be blessed if you honor the Lord in this area of your life. Carolyn Crabtree |
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This page last updated: 03/06/08