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Lust and Love is the theme for our reflection. To lust means to have a strong sexual desire for someone but to love is an intense feeling of deep affection. Jesus spoke against adultery, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28). In other words, Jesus reveals that our intentions and actions are linked together therefore a person who has physically committed adultery is equally guilty as the person who has the intention of committing adultery. Lust is the malicious intention to have sex with the opposite sex. If the person is married then the person commits adultery but if the person is not married then he or she commits fornication. Put in another way, adultery is the outcome of lust therefore one cannot commit adultery unless he or she has lustfully looked at a man or woman. It must be noted that in our time and age adultery is not gender specific unlike in the time of Jesus where it was the prerogative of a man to cause a woman to commit adultery according to social perception and culture at the time. Most twenty-first women are so empowered socially that they are capable of also lusting after a man and actually doing anything to have him in bed unless the man is God-fearing enough to resist their temptation. It is important to read Matthew 5:27-28 as referring to both men and women when it comes to lust and adultery.

It is interesting to note that the same heart that harbours lust, is the heart that harbours love. In other words, lust and love come from the heart. We must however understand that the heart is influenced by our will. This means that you have the power to cause your heart to either lust or love. Dear friend, a person can easily be drawn to the temptation of lust when he or she is not filled with the Holy Spirit. If you are not filled with the Holy Spirit then your will is governed by the desire of the flesh. “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” (Galatians 5:19-21) The will of a person is without boundaries and discipline if it is not controlled by the Holy Spirit through the knowledge of God’s Word. It is for this reason, love and self-discipline are part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, “… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) A believer who is filled with the Holy Spirit may be tempted to lust after the opposite sex but because he or she is empowered by the Holy Spirit, he or she will choose love over lust thereby avoiding the sin of adultery or fornication. Beloved in the Lord, remember lust is not patient, lust destroys, it does envy a neighbour’s spouse or partner, it is proud and shameful, it brings dishonour and disgrace and it is selfish or self-seeking but “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). Shalom.

PRAYER

Holy Spirit, empower us to overcome the temptation of lust even as we bear the fruit of love through our intentions and actions towards the opposite sex. Amen.