Thought for Monday, October 15th

October 15, 2012

Lusts Lead Us to Loose Our Way

“It is much easier to suppress a first desire than to satisfy those that follow.”

-       La Rochefoucauld

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

1 Peter  2:11

Lust is often associated with carnal fleshly desires, more frequently of a sexual nature: and they can be: but we must be careful not to restrict or limit our comprehension of lustfulness; for it indeed is not limited or restricted by those parameters.

Lust is, simply put, the desire we feel or the need we have for something to the extent that we are driven to obtain it to the point of becoming obsessive in our desire and motivation to attain or achieve it.

Spiritually speaking, I wonder if it might not be fair to define lustfulness, as being those actions or behaviors that drive us towards anything we might desire to have or be a part of that is greater than our desire for God.

Without doubt, lust is a sin; as it is clearly defined as such in the Bible.  Hence to support my hypothesis with regards to lust from a spiritual perspective: isn’t anything that draws us away from God: captivates our attentions or demands our energies to the extent that we disobey God to fulfill or achieve them: in effect causing us to lust after something that will take us away from or impede us attaining our optimum relationship with God?

Lust in its most base and basic form is nothing more than desire.  So, anything we desire more than we desire God could theoretically be considered something we lust after.

So then could things such as recreational pursuits; academic endeavors, social interactions and the like be deemed lusts that we have?  This seems a bit extreme for none of these things in and of themselves are innately evil or bad: yet if they become so much a part of our life that they impede and detour us from having a vibrant and healthy, obedient and committed relationship with God: then maybe we do need to reassess their place in our lives.

Almost anything can become a sin, if we allow it to take control of us and keep us from growing closer to God: so we need to heed the scriptures admonitions and guard our heart, and keep our focus on the prize; allowing God’s Spirit to guide and lead us and keep us from wondering astray.

Today’s Prayer

Father, thee are many things in my life that I would not consider to be things I lust after, but help me to keep them in the right balance and in the appropriate focus, so I don’t allow them to draw or take me away from my relationship with you in any way, shape form or fashion.

“Purify my heart

Let me be as gold

And precious silver

Purify my heart

Cleanse me from within

And make me holy

Refiner’s fire

My hearts one desire

Is to be holy

Set apart for You my Master

Ready to do your will.“

-  Lyrics from ‘Refiner’s Fire’ by Brian Doerksen