Overcoming Lust

Sin has put humanity into a sad state. The corrupt desires of human nature relentlessly drive us to sin. Add to that eyes that have been set loose to soak in all and you have a recipe for disaster. Although our eyes are very important organs for us, we succumb to lust by seeing through them. Overcoming lust is a of huge importance for the spiritual well-being of a Christian. Jesus said, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.” (Matthew 6:22) What you look at, dwell on, gaze intently on, will in turn affect your life.

For this very reason Jesus Christ warned us, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” (Matthew 5:29) This is a serious commandment, to say the least. It shows us the strictness with which we must take watch over our body. It also carries an ominous warning for those who won’t heed the warning. Jesus didn’t mince His words with regards to this topic. Therefore we should all take careful heed to this warning.

We all remember the superman in the Bible, a Judge of old named Samson. God had many plans for him, but alas, Samson did not know how to control himself. It appears he had neither fear of the Lord or much common sense. You all know the story of how he went after women whom the Lord specifically forbid to marry. His parents pleaded with him but he would hear nothing of it.

God finally gouged out his eyes to help save him, to help him overcome his lust, but he remained blind to his problem until his last breath. I believe he died spiritually blind too. His last prayer to God was, “O Lord God, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!” (Judges 16:28)

Samson wasn’t sorry for his sins, or for disgracing God. All those years he held a grudge against the Philistines because they took out his eyes. All the time that he was grinding flour for them, he didn’t repent and turn back to God. He could have been a Judge of Israel and put the land to rest, but he spent most of his days just grinding flour for the enemy. Many of us can relate to this as we have fallen into addiction in some form or another. Like Samson we ” went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.” (Judges 14:1) And there we were bitten by the venomous poison of the snake.

The writer of Hebrews commends us to look intently to the “beginner and perfecter” of our faith, Jesus Christ. Watch his life unfold through the Gospels with searching eyes and emulate Him in word and deed. Then you will become victorious. For anyone who has come to Jesus has not stayed the same. They have partaken of the life that is in Him. We will truly live a blessed life, both in this world and in the world to come. No longer will we be an easy target for sin for we are not going “down to Timnah” or “seeing one of their daughters”. Although this is not the “be all, end all” way to completely overcome lust, we will be well on our journey to overcoming lust. It’s by the grace of God that we completely overcome lust.

May God help us to take diligent care to what we look at!