# What is lusting?



## InSlaveryToChrist (May 29, 2010)

"What is lusting?" This question has occurred to me a thousand times, yet I've never found a satisfying answer to it. "Why do I lust after people?", "What is it that so attracts my soul?", "Is it the shape of one's body?", "The shape of one's body-parts?" Has God so designed our mind that we're prone to lust after a certain kind of shapes or forms? I don't think so. 

People don't lie, when having sex they say, "I WANT YOU! I WANT YOU!" That's the absolute truth about lusting. We desire something over ourselves. If we truly were satisfied with our own bodies, we would rather say, "I WANT MYSELF!" But what lusting is, is desiring to exchange one's own body to someone else's.

And here comes the reason why this is to be considered sin. Desiring to take someone's body is SELFISH. Lusting is SELFISH. Moreover, God wants us to be perfected by the work of patience that we should remain WANTING NOTHING (James 1:4). So, lusting or coveting goes greatly against this desire of God for us.

Now, if we were to bring the issue further, we could ponder why we would rather lust after women than men, or why rather men than women. In other words, why would we rather desire to have a woman's body than a men's body or the other way around? Frankly, I haven't given much thought it, but it's pretty evident to me from seeing how the world goes, that people want to be different, men want to be women and women want to be men. It's something they are fanatic about, something they've never experienced. So, that's my assumption why this would be the case.

I hope this helped you in as much as it helped me! Please, do share your own thoughts on this!


Edit: I didn't notice until now how I limited the wide topic, "What is lusting?", to a definition of lusting after someone and not someTHING.


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## Tim (May 29, 2010)

Lust could be said to be a combination of a violation of the 7th commandment and the 10th commandment. When we lust, we covet what is not ours (i.e., she is not my wife...) and commit adultery in our hearts (i.e., fantasize).


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## ColdSilverMoon (May 29, 2010)

Here is an article on lust I found very helpful:

Redeemer City to City


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## Cato (May 29, 2010)

Ummm, Lusting is the natural physical attraction one has for the opposite sex. 1st as a man, I could not be more comfortable in my own skin & I understand my own nature (for the most part). I love the opposite sex as god's own unique creation & I enjoy the intricacies of them so I guess I could say Im attracted however I have a keen appreciation for both their sensitivity & their intelligence. Have you ever seen the movie, "Scent of a Woman" .... well while the character Colonel Frank Slade was vulgar at times he does emulate what I am trying to describe. 

But lust for me has been reduced expediently & replaced by love & commitment to my lovely wife. She amazes me & she often makes me laugh at her knowledge & insight. I have to say that since I promised her my love, Ive been true to her & when the lust thing hits as it invariably does, I think of Christs words about thinking correctly & remembering the fidelity of marriage (thats like a cold shower...lol)


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## au5t1n (May 29, 2010)

Cato The Elder said:


> Ummm, Lusting is the natural physical attraction one has for the opposite sex.


 
This cannot be true because lust is sinful, whereas physical attraction is not sinful in all contexts.


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## InSlaveryToChrist (May 29, 2010)

Tim said:


> When we lust, we covet what is not ours.



Very true. However, I think we need to realize that not all things that are in our possession belong to us. People are prone to think in a man-centered manner. God doesn't owe us anything, yet we, in our limited wisdom, tend to think some things are ultimately for us, while the reality is that all things belong to God and are for His own glory.


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## Cato (May 29, 2010)

LOL.... you guys are funny. Come meet me in NYC some day & we will test your Puritanical virtues. wow!


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## Tim (May 29, 2010)

Steve, I think this is more serious than you are making it out to be. This is a huge problem for men today. No one here is saying that he lives up to the standard set for us by God, but it is very important to distinguish between these aspects:

1. looking at or noticing someone (not sinful)
2. _merely_ noticing a body part, that is, it enters our field of vision (not sinful)
3. _merely_ appreciating or mentally acknowledging someone's physical beauty (not sinful)
4. dwelling upon, imagining further, desiring for one's self, thinking what it would be like... (definitely sinful)

Numbers 1, 2, and 3 are not lust, however number 2 and 3 can indeed represent temptations. It is this aspect that demands vigilance. Number 4 is an example of lust, if the person who is being "viewed" is not one's spouse. 

Would you disagree with anything that I have written above?

---------- Post added at 01:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:00 PM ----------

Another definition of lust that I came up with is:

sexually coveting.


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## Cato (May 29, 2010)

Tim #'s 1,2,3 Guilty as charged but no I do not dwell.....Rather I picture Christ's teaching of "If the eye is no good pluck it out if the hand is wayward chop it off" and I take it literally. I then envision my dear wife & know that I would never hurt her for my sin so by doing that I wipe out the lust before it gets to that point. Also buy her some flowers. Maybe thats why Paul entreats us to marry.


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## Peairtach (May 29, 2010)

Physically desiring a woman that is not yours to desire i.e. not your wife.

Other lusts of the flesh are:-

Gluttony. Desiring food when you've had enough.

Sloth. Desiring sleep/rest when you've had enough.

Insobriety. Desiring more drink when you've had enough.

Our Lord was never married, and yet was temperate in all things, and as pure as the driven snow.

_But the fruit of the Spirit is .......................temperance (self-control) (Galatians 5:22-23)_

Our lives are morally indefensible. Certainly mine is. We can only be saved by grace.


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## Augusta (May 29, 2010)

I am glad Richard mentioned the other lusts. We tend to only apply it to sexual desire but it is used very generally in the Bible many times. I think of 1 Cor. 10 when it says the Israelites lusted in the wilderness and he wasn't pleased with them. They were lusting after meats and leeks.


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## TimV (May 29, 2010)

> we truly were satisfied with our own bodies, we would rather say, "I WANT MYSELF!"



I don't even know what to say  Sorry, but I can't remember ever hearing something so bizarre in my entire life 

Read through the Song of Songs, and remember that it is GOOD.


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## Idelette (May 29, 2010)

One of my favorite quotes by Augustine: "_Lust is the pursuit of things temporal rather than the things eternal_".


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## Cato (May 30, 2010)

Right on Richard T.....we've lived with the darkness (sin) so long we become comfortable with it. Our lives are full of sacred cows & hot potatoes, areas where we indulge our sin. No one can touch them.

Thats why it's so hard to deal with sin: we've grown to like sin & the greatest threat of all is someone who will come into the midst of our evil & rob it from us. Sick Sick Sick.


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