Today's Devotional

 

June 2, 2008

                                                                                         

Subject:  A Different Look At Lust 

1 Corinthians 9:27  "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."

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When the word "lust" is used, most people's first though is one of sexual desire or temptation.  That however is only of the millions of forms that lust can take.  The definition of lust is - an intense craving or longing.  That comes from Webster.  The bible says that it is an excessive longing or desire to satisfy the flesh.  That makes lust a whole lot bigger problem for us if it's not just sexual desire, but also encompasses eating, drinking, sleeping, watching tv or basically any activity that could make us comfortable.  

The problem is not just our desire to be comfortable, but our excessive desire for comfort.  When our personal comfort or satisfaction begins to override everything else, we're into lust of the flesh. 

Paul gave the remedy for lust when he said, "walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16)  The question becomes how to accomplish that and I think Paul had the answer again in the passage above.  We have to keep our bodies under subjection.  That means that instead of our flesh telling us what to do, we tell our flesh what it's going to do.  We are in authority of our bodies and our bodies are under subjection.

Today understand that lust is more than sexual desire, it invades most every area of our lives and the only answer is take charge through the Spirit.  After all you own your temple and that fleshly nature is just renting it out for a little while.  Keep that renter under subjection.  

Carlen