Prior to coming to my first year in the university, where I rededicated my life to God, I lived a life where it was very difficult to uphold purity. Lustful desires could easily be instilled in me even by mere words, and when motion pictures added up to that, “Deh strent of the Spirit of God in my life was sdrriipped eweh..” What I’m trying to say is, things got worse…
So yes, I understand why all around people are perverse and lustful after themselves, especially during these isolation times. I understand why ladies take nude and sexy pictures of themselves and send them to guys (who do same too) to instill sexual desire in each other.
But why so? How did the job of the porn star become the desire of the generation, even more the secondary occupation of the average teen? Well,
1. It’s an end-time prediction (Please read 2 Timothy 3:1-5).
2. The strength of the Holy Spirit has been stripped away.
3. We have failed to understand the nature of the flesh. “The acts of the sinful nature (the flesh) are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, etc.”
Before this verse, Paul was explaining to the Galatian church how the desires of the flesh and that of the Spirit are in conflict with each other. Then he spells out the desires of the flesh, the first three being sex related: sexual immorality (fornication and adultery), impurity, and debauchery (pleasure-seeking indulgence).
In a nut shell Paul is explaining that naturally, our flesh desires these things. It is like the default settings when you get a new phone or laptop.
So if these desires are already a default setting in the fallen nature of the flesh and it wants it; now imagine what happens when we feed it.
So back to my story (abridged version)…
I remember when I was in a relationship, in my secondary school days, and all I wanted to do was kiss and lust after my partner, all to fulfill my selfish sexual desires. My flesh desired make-out sessions at the beach, once at SpriteBall, etc. And with a primitive excuse that I was learning how to please a lady, I eventually got into pornography (again, I can’t get into full details now).
But this addiction took me over and messed up things in my life. At a point I couldn’t think straight when I saw a pretty lady; I would feel very uncomfortable in my manhood when I viewed pictures of or saw ladies with cleavage. I found myself a slave to lust and pornography: sexual sin.
Mind you, I was a Christian, could speak in tongues, a virgin (I still am by some grace), didn’t smoke, no alcohol, but I was still held bound by my sinful nature, the flesh.
This is what is happening in the world today; even among the Christian family. One reason is this, “once we abandon passionate worship of God, whatever we have passion for becomes our god.” We’ve abandoned passionate desire for God and so other pleasures have taken His place in our lives.
Beloved, the greatest hindrance to worshiping God is not that we are a pleasure-seeking people, but that we are willing to settle for such pitiful pleasures. We are far too easily pleased, so we don’t get to experience true pleasure in God.
We’re men and women desperate for partners and intimacy because we’ve lost intimacy with God.
So once we start with debauchery/lasciviousness (pleasure-seeking, kisses, caressing, pornography, masturbation, etc), we feed our flesh and minds with impurity: impure thoughts and impure motives.
Are we satisfied with the lustful desires in our minds? No way! You’ll always want more. So guess what that leads to, fornication. You finally get the ‘pleasure’ you thought God was hiding from you (I agree with Oswald Chambers when he says, “All sin is rooted in the suspicion that God is not very good,” mercy!).
So you finally get that ‘pleasure’ and you keep it going. Pride kicks in, you’re now on top of the world, it is your own body and you’re enjoying it. In your fantasies, you’ll find a wonderful partner and restrict this cycle to them for the rest of your lives.
But guess what? Your flesh ain’t done yet, it wants more, you want more.
So you can even get into a marriage covenant but with time you’ll break that vow and say, ‘hello lust, it’s me, calling from the other side, adultery.’ And guess what, even here, the flesh is not satisfied. More mercy Lord!
“For lust is a shameful sin, a crime that should be punished. It is a fire that burns all the way to hell. It would wipe out everything I own.” ~ Job 31:11
Because Job knew where the fire of lust leads, and how it cannot be quenched, he said: “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman.” He stopped it right at the beginning. Now I can tell you Job was a one in a million kind of man, even in the Bible. Because not even King David could follow his example, so looking for a solution in the old testament alone for this won’t help.
But thank God for new birth in Christ Jesus, with which He gives us His Holy Spirit.
Paul says to the Galatian church: “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh... The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
This suggests to us that the fruit of the flesh is: lust, lack of joy, agitation, impatience, rudeness, wickedness, infidelity/unfaithfulness, anger, no self-control. Can I ask you something, which of these do you desire??
Jesus calls out to you with open arms today.
Pray with me, “Lord Jesus I admit I am a sinner. I believe you came to die for me to set me free from the bondage of my sinful nature. I repent of my sinful ways (mention them to God), and I surrender my life to you. Come into my life and give me your Holy Spirit, amen.“
Congratulations!! You belong to Christ now and Heaven rejoices because of you. This is the greatest decision you could make in your life. We’re so proud of you (we have a gift for you; comment below or use the contact form and we’ll get back to you).
But before I leave, Paul goes on and ends that chapter saying, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, Let Us Keep In Step With The Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
To keep in step means to walk with Him and walk where He leads. You can do this only through daily fellowship in prayer and with God’s word, the Bible. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us and let’s walk together. Grace and peace to you.
Stay blessed and kindly share with others.