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Lessons I Learned About Lust
By Eileen T. W.


To begin with too many of us equate lust with just sex


Dictionary Lust: =intense longing for...any passionate desire..for power...sex...pleasure...lewd
desire...feel lecherous.

Biblical lust has the same meanings. However there are variations and I
will list some different verses with the concordance rendering on each.

To begin with too many of us equate lust with just sex. For those who
do I'm sharing what I learned about it.

In the Bible, Numbers 11:34, shows how God dealt with lust after the
people He had led out of Egypt complained too much. They were in
the desert with Moses, and moaning that the manna God was feeding
them was not good enough. They missed the meat, and other foods
they were used to. The hardship and all the abuse they lived under,
during their slavery in Egypt, forgotten. They could think only of
some good food. Nothing wrong in thinking about it, but to moan and
complain and say it was better where they were, did not endear
them to the Lord.


Yet, that is our typical self-seeking ungrateful reaction to any
discomfort we must go through, no matter if what we were delivered
from, was far worse.

Numbers 11:4-6 "Now the mixed multitude among them began to
LUST greedily for the familiar food they used to eat, and the children
of Israel wept and said ' who will give us meat to eat'."

So God gave them the meat they asked for.

11:31 " A wind went out from the Lord which brought quail from the
sea...and the people stayed up all day and night gathering it and
drying it for eating, but while the meat was still between their
teeth, before they could chew it, the Lord's wrath struck them with a
very great plague. They all died. (Paraphrase)


11:34 "So he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah, because
there they buried the people who had yeilded to their craving."

Kibroth Hattaavah in Hebrew means..."The graves of sensuous desire."

Lust in this instance, is listed in the concordance as:

# 183...Hebrew...avah(aw vaw)(primary root) meaning...to wish for...
(greatly) desire...covet....lust (after).

We see that lusting for food, is not acceptable in God's eyes. This may
seem harsh and unacceptable to us, until we realize that , with anything
we put before God it is idolatry and God says "we shall not have
strange gods before us". So my friends, if we lust after food and place it
before all else it has become a god we worship. You may not like to
hear it, but truth is like that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another form of lust:
In the Concordance.. Hebrew...#8307..shriyruwth(shaw reer)...meaning...
twisted imagination...lust.

In the Greek..."3715... orexis =excitement of the mind... longing after...lust.

Psalm 81:12 "So I gave them up to their own hearts LUST, and let them
go after their own stubborn will, that they might follow their own counsels."
(Also in Acts 7:42-43, 14:16...Romans 1:24-26)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These next two are from the New Testament. In the concordance...
Greek...#1939...Epithemeo...
set the heart upon...long for rightfully or otherwise...covet...desire...lust after.

James 4:2" You LUST and do not have. You murder and covet, and
cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you do not have, because you do
not ask."

I Corinthians 10:6 "Now these things became our examples, to the intent
that we should not LUST after evil things as they also LUSTED."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The above Scripture don't mention the word sex, but in the context of the
chapters they are taken from, all of the things we lust for are mentioned,
including sex in it's natural and unnatural ways.

The fact is that no matter what we lust after, it is all the same in God's
eyes. Idolatry is anathema to God, because it takes our eyes away
from him and puts them on all the wrong things. If we did everything
within the parameters of godliness, we could still have all the delights
and desires of our hearts that we want.

However, the evil forces that rule this world are very strong, and will
not allow us to easily follow what's right . Evil makes it hard for us to do
things reasonably, for we are naturally drawn to what seems like the
more exciting and glamorous way. If only we realized how wrong
that notion is, before we messed our lives up with all the crap of the world.
Yet, as long as we are alive we have the hope of renewal. Praise
God for that!

Finally, there is nothing wrong with desire. Only when it turns to lust
does it become evil. The reason is simple. When we lust after anything
no matter what it is, it takes up our whole, heart, soul, and mind.
There is no room left for God. We can't be doing right if we leave Him
out, and He wants no part of us if we are lusting after things we think
are more delightful than Him.

Eileen T. Waldron 2002 ©


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