What is Lust?

​ "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever."  1 John 2:16
 
Lust is an intense desire, yearning, or longing for something.  Accordingly, an individual can lust after another person or after a thing, but how exactly does the world entice us to lust after someone or something?  The bible says we are enticed through our flesh, our eyes, and our pride.  Specifically, your body lusts after food when you excessively crave certain foods and beverages. 

“Each one is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.  Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin.  And sin, when it is finished, brings forth death."  James 1:14-15
 
The Lust of the Eyes and Flesh:

In order to demonstrate the body’s response to the mere mention of and sight of food, consider that hearing a radio advertisement describing your favorite foods and beverages can cause you to salivate and yearn for what’s being described although you may have just eaten a full meal.  Your eyes can cause you to lust after food and beverages when you see a commercial or billboard advertisement for your favorite fast food restaurant.  Moreover, both your eyes and your nose can cause you to lust after food simultaneously when you see something that brings to mind an image of cuisine you crave, and then you smell what you long for at the same time.  For instance, when you smell the aroma of a Big Mac as you pass the golden arches of a McDonald’s restaurant on the interstate, you may be hard pressed to pass up one of the next 5 McDonald’s restaurants you see on the way home without buying one if, like me, you are susceptible to the sin of gluttony.    

Did you notice what happened?  It should remind you of the “cycle of cravings” you go through each time you’ve surrendered to eating something that is not on your latest dietary program.  As the Books of James and 1 John point out, first you are confronted by something you lust for via one of your gates, that is, your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, or skin, and you become enticed or tempted (James 1:14-15 and 1 John 2:16).  In other words, this is the beginning of the cycle where you see, smell, hear about, taste something that reminds you of, or touch something that has a texture similar to a food or beverage that you enjoy or crave.  This produces a longing or desire, a temptation if you will, for that food within you.
 
Second, you begin to dwell on the object of your desire or lust so obsessively that the Book of James compares your thought processes to pregnancy.  In other words, your craving or lust for the burger, once triggered, commenced a series of thoughts within your mind that began much like the life-cycle of a human being.  We start out one cell at a time, namely, when a seed from our mother is fertilized by our father.  Those two come together to make a completely new cell which takes on a life of its on, dividing and multiplying until it matures into a child that can exist independently outside of its mother’s womb.
 
Spiritually speaking, sin has a similar cycle.  It just usually works a whole lot faster.  The seed of lust comes from within you as the Book of James teaches us, but it is fertilized by the enemy, Satan.  Just as a mother’s body naturally provides all the nutrients her unborn child needs so long as she feeds her body during the pregnancy, so any human being will feed the sin growing within him or her by merely continuing to think about it.  Accordingly, the enemy works diligently to make sure that you nourish the sinful thought by keeping your mind focused on it to the point of obsession.  In the end, you’ve got to have it!  As a mother in the natural pushes to give birth to the mature child, you too, act to make your sinful thoughts a reality.  In other words, your mind commands your body to eat.
 
The Lust of the Pride of Life:
 
Pride is tricky because it often works as a subtle internal dialogue which is being carried on, presumably, with oneself.  For instance, “Pride” says, “I’m not like everyone else.  I’m not lazy.  I can break my bad habits whenever I want.  All I have to do is put my mind to it.  Just not today.  I’ll do it tomorrow.  Today we still have cheesecake left that should not go to waste.”  When tomorrow is dawning, “Pride” convinces you not to start tomorrow “because the holidays are right around the corner.  I’ll just wait until the beginning of the year.  I should enjoy myself now before the new year starts.  I should eat as much as I want of whatever I want.  Who knows when I’ll have the chance to eat like this again.”  No matter how many times you’ve traveled that road before, the sin of pride can talk you into almost anything if you let it.

“The Lord resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6)."  In fact, Proverbs 6:16-19 teaches that pride is one of the “7 deadly sins” that God considers an abomination.  In Proverbs 6:18, the Lord says that pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.  That’s exactly what has been happening to a growing number of people all over the world who are entangled with the sin of gluttony and suffering from the effects of obesity.  Pride has led then to the destruction of the temple of the Holy Spirit, and they are not only sick, but many are also dying.  However, God promises to give grace to those who humble themselves before Him.  Draw near to God by rejecting the lies of the evil spirit of pride, repenting from your entanglement with the sin of gluttony, and humbly obeying God’s word in regard to dieting, exercising, and caring for your body, the temple of the Holy Spirit.