The Origin of Lust and Love

UV 1167/10,000 The Origin of Lust and Love

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.

I John 2 v 16

The word “lust” is an excessive uncontrollable desire that can control and drive a person instead of the person being in charge and control of his desires. Our bodies have some legitimate needs like food, drink, clothing, comfort and sexual satisfaction. Our minds too have some legitimate need of a sense of security, recognition and satisfaction. But when we crave more than our need, each desire becomes lust. The Word describes three different types of lust: lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. While legitimate and natural desires and needs are from the Lord God for He has wired us and made us in His image, our desire to possess in excess of what God had intended and willed for us is lust. The world feeds our lusts by feeding our disbelief and our insecurities.

Satan desired to be equal with God. This is the pride of life. He tempted Eve and Adam stating that if they disobeyed God and ate of the fruit of knowledge, they would be like God and live forever. Pride of life causes us to disbelieve God and to believe satan and the world. We are deceived by our own excessive desire. Instead when we submit our lives, our desires, plans and all that we are to God and accept whatever His will is for us, we have the opposite quality- the humility of life. We are deemed to be humble before God and He will lift us up. Lust destroys us from within while love sustains us.

The lust of the flesh prompts us to desire to consume and possess more than we need to. The lust of the eye causes us to covet that which is not ours. The world and its systems condition people to desire more than they need and to desire what they do not need as well as to desire that which is forbidden by God or that which is harmful to us in terms of eternity. While Gautama Buddha described all desire as evil, the Word of God describes desires as natural and necessary but when the desire is excessive, unnatural and not under the control of the person, only then it becomes evil and destructive. When our desires are submitted to the Lord, disciplined by the Word and controlled by the Holy Spirit, these are of the Father and not of the world. We in turn become people who are in the world but not of the world. When we have a relationship with God as our loving, generous as well as capable Father, we will not be affected by the sense of insecurity that afflicts the world. He knows what we need and He will supply it according to His generosity. Trust in Him keeps the inner lust and pride in check and keeps chipping away at such as these. Love replaces lust as love is of the Father and not of the world.

Prateep V Philip