The greatest enemy to your faithfulness unto our Holy God sits in your seat right now. Without lust, there is no sin. Without sin, there is no death. Yet, we live in a world surrounded by men and women who are dying, both physically and spiritually. In James 1:13-16, the author makes us painfully aware of these truths. Notice some of the following thoughts…
Lust is an odd concept. It dwells in us all but it is completely unique to everyone. One man’s lust may hold no temptation to his father, but it is still a real and dangerous thing. The Eskimo nation had a very particular way of killing wolves. The nation would sharpen a hunting knife to a razor’s edge and cover it with blood. That blood would form a shell on that knife. The knife would be dipped repeatedly in that same blood until they had formed a “blood popsicle” (for lack of any better terms). Then the Eskimo nation would fasten the knife to a tree at just the right height. After pouring some fresh blood on the knife to attract the wolf, they would simply leave. The wolf would show up and begin licking on the knife. He would lick and lick and eventually, after vigorous licking the knife blade became exposed. This wolf, being so focused on the free meal, would not notice that his tongue was ripped to ribbons. The blood he was consuming was his own. It was the wolf’s own lust that killed him. Now, that sounds kind of familiar doesn’t it?
Lust is a product of man’s invention. It is not from God. Adam, Eve, Job’s wife all blamed God, when in fact it was their own doing that caused so many problems in their lives. “Why can’t they see that?”, we often ask. Why can’t we see it in our lives? I think the answer lies in the fact that we do not want to see it. We really like what we like and we want to keep doing those things. However, when those desires are opposite to God’s command, we must be very cautious to stay obedient to God. Lust becomes deadly when we give it the opportunity to grow.
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