Bondman

PRACTICAL NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIANITY

MESSAGE #22


THE QUESTION OF LUST

PART 1 (Part 2 is HERE)


Okay, FIRST. This is different for a mature Christian man who has some Spiritual strength from the Lord, than for a younger Christian who likely hasn't developed a lot of strength as yet.

SECOND. The lust Scripture is:

Matthew 5:28
But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

"If we look at a woman and LUST after her!" Hmm... not easy for us guys, hey! Women have their things really tough; this is the tough one for the Christian male.

THIRD. As for a whole great LOT of Scriptural principles and how we must live them out, this is very much tied up with OUR ATTITUDE! Consider: we can look at a great painting and admire it and say that we absolutely love it. BUT... we probly won't want to steal it, hey! Tho an art thief might.

There's the difference in attitude. I looked, saw beauty; HE looked, and wanted it! So these days, with God's help, I can look at beauty in women without lusting. As an early Christian, let's not beat about the bush on this, I sinned. As most Christian men do (so you're not alone, trust me).

FOURTH. But let's take this a little further. Our lustful eyes, then thoughts, are likely to be centered on things sexual, right. So there's where we must take great care. I can actually look without sinning - but mostly I DON'T do this, cos I'm NOT gonna put myself into needless temptation, AND I'd much sooner "do without" than sin against my Lord, who died for me at great cost so all my sin could be FORGIVEN! Including LUST sin!

FIFTH. Notice very carefully what the LUST OF THE EYES does: COMMITS ADULTERY! Jesus is not messing round here! You lust - you just comitted adultery with her!! This is forgiveable by Him, but the true Christian DOES NOT WISH TO BE AN ADULTERER!!!

SIXTH. Having done my best to define and explain what lust is: starts out with a wrong ATTITUDE, continues with the eye, and ends up with wrong THOUGHTS, maybe that will have helped you see the way to loving, rather than lusting. If there's lust, then that's bad. We gotta be PURE if we're Christian. And we'd want her to be PURE too, right? So exit LUST! Then you are free to first appreciate her, then enjoy her for who she is, and maybe even get a FRIENDSHIP going (desperately need FRIENDSHIP first - before romantic love comes in and quite blinds your eyes for approx. the next 2 years, by which time you may well discover that you made a bad mistake, too late!!!)

FINALLY. You CANNOT succeed in not lusting WITHOUT God!!! Can't do anything worthwhile without Him - but this one is deadly certain. Try not lusting; try harder; screw yourself up to busting point - you'll fail!! You can only do this with HIS help, via HIS strength in you, via His Holy Spirit: 1. First tell Him you want to stop sinning. 2. Tell Him again, over and over. 3. Ask Him for His help, and keep asking. 4. You'll get this when you want to NOT lust, more than you WANT to lust: at that point His power comes in and helps you to achieve what alone you'll fail at every time.

SUMMARY: 1. Wrong ATTITUDE 2. LOOK at what you shouldn't, WITH the wrong attitude 3. Then come the LUSTFUL THOUGHTS - and you're an adulterer! I'm sure you can see the things to avoid, and with HIS HELP, succeed at! And I can tell you that being an OVERCOMER, and KNOWING that you are, is way beyond wonderful!!!

Bless you as you consider this - and work on it, with the Lord!

- BM and his Lady

__________________

James B

That is really helpful, thank you.

So, admire the creation, not the flesh, and love may follow?

Bondman

Good summation, James! Lot fewer words than I took too! *broad grin*

Just gotta do this in/via His strength, not our own, or we fail.

Blessings!

__________________

Mark_18

Forgive you? I thank you.

And your reply to James really helped me too. I pray James and I can see everything as his creation and truly desire to see it only that way and treat it accordingly.

So when I'm with friends and they point out a girl, I'm not to smile/ nod/ acknowledge it? Or as long as I'm truly not thinking the same thing he is?

__________________
Luke 15:31 - And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
Joel 2:28 - I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Matthew 7:7 - Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Psalms 126:5 - Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.

JOKE POLICE

Bondman

PRACTICAL NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIANITY

MESSAGE #23

THE QUESTION OF LUST

PART 2 (Part 1 is HERE)


Hmm... it's just the odd year since I was in a situation like that! I don't see any great problem in someone pointing out a dishy chick to you. Like James said: admire the creation, not the flesh. My Lady will even point out to me someone on TV! If it comes to leering at her, as a group of guys can well do, that's not good, but I don't seem much harm in acknowledging, smiling, and agreeing. Provided the latter is done PURELY.

Cos it really is our ATTITUDE in all of this! If that's right, then how we act etc. will follow accordingly. A pretty girl, a pretty lady, wow, that's great. God has done it again, and I rejoice. SAME as when I see a beautiful scene in nature, or on TV some brilliant animal or magnificent bird, we sit there in amazement and say, "Wow Lord, you sure know how to make things beautiful." And He does!


If the word 'attitude' doesn't gel for you, then we could also use something like 'focus'. My life-focus is to honour the Lord in all that I say, all that I do, all that I see, all that I feel, all that I think. That focus helps me with PURITY. Helps keeps my mouth clean, my mind clean, my thoughts on track. And to live this life-focus I keep STRONG in me the fact that life here is but a couple of seconds! Truly!! It starts, it finishes. In no time at all. Then comes E-T-E-R-N-I-T-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y, which we describe as 'forever'. And which is either with God ('oh, yes please!') - or without God (no way! no, no, NO!!!) Hector, people, God is PURE!! I need - and earnestly want - to be that way, so I can live with Him.

Things down here seem SO important. Mostly they're not. They just tangle up our life and we don't get to move forward. The FUTURE - in eternity - THAT'S what's important!


Praying for HIS power to be working powerfully *smile* in us all!

- BM

QUESTIONS WELCOME!

GOTO: Previous Message | Next Message

__________________

SweetSurrender

Wow, Bondman, you are sure a blessing! Just purrrrusing the posts tonight cause I can't get any shut-eye. That last reply of yours was so good. I had to print it out to show my husband. He went through so much sexual abuse as a small child, reading bad magazines his dad had lying around, etc. that he decided our son would not have to go through what he had to. So, he always made Jeff cover his eyes when something bad came on TV. To this day, Jeff won't look at women who are scantily clad. Even though Norm and I didn't have morals back then, he didn't want his son to have to struggle with porn or things like he did. He didn't even know how good it was what he was teaching. To this day, even before he accepted Christ, Jeff is a very pure and obedient son and has never taken a drink or been sexually involved. He is a good boy. I thank God for that. He is just as thirsty for the word as I am.

Thanx for giving the advise you gave to these two young men. Most of young men simply and sadly have never been taught this. You are a blessing.

__________________

Bondman

Wow, back atcha, hon! Thanks for your post! It always blows my brain when God does something like this. And Norm sure DID give such excellent teaching and help. As for Jeff and his life - that is just SO wonderful to hear about! Hey, is that a blessing, or is that a blessing!!

Y'know, the number of times I know of son following father and of a daughter following her mother is so, so shocking! I'm not without experience of this in my own lifetime. To me, there's HOPE when we get the message out there that bad stuff of any kind in the sexual area is simply NOT ON! - otherwise nothing but heartache and sadness, or worse, will follow.

I stressed in what I've written that only the Lord can enable us to be PURE in mind, heart, thought. Maybe I didn't stress enough the unbelievable DAMAGE that can ensue in lives - often MANY lives - if we FAIL to get these important areas of our lives right!!! In other words, to make no bones about the fact that this is SERIOUS STUFF. VERY serious stuff!

So I say that the message here is totally and completely clear: guys, GET IT RIGHT! - and DON'T mess up!!!

- BM

__________________

Fluffy

Hey, Bondman! Ecellent posts, as usual! But I would like to add something from a woman's point of view. Women can have the same problem with lust. Especially in this day and age! Its all like you say, Bondman, its the attitude and the desire to be focused on God and be pure for Him.
Being persistent is seeking His heart and mind, and learning about His ways and His love for us, can lead one to really knowing, REALLY KNOWING how God loves us.

__________________
Be transparent before God, He sees right thru you, anyway!
http://www.likepreciousfaith.org/testimony_val.htm
Please pray for your local emergency responders, daily.

Bondman

Wow Fluffy, good one - I'm sooo glad you jumped in to give the warning and advice to the fairer sex on this serious matter! I did know women have it today (never did in my day...)

Considering the responses to it, I decided I should upgrade what I wrote to James to 'Message' status, entitled, "THE QUESTION OF LUST". (And to keep them together I may still make it Part 1 and the shorter one below as Part 2).

"Bless you Lord Jesus, for giving excellent queries to two young men who belong to you, so we got this important matter into The Inner Room here! You really, really, really, really are the BESTEST!!!"

- BM and his Lady

__________________

forgivenWretch

PBFWM are "Habits That Help Us Grow Closer to Christ"