“Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.”
Ephesians 4:19
What, would you say is the opposite of love? Would you answer, “hate”? Many would agree that hate is the antonym of love, but consider this: Lust is love’s opposite.
Love can always wait to give, but lust can hardly wait to get. Love is never self-seeking, but lust always places its selfish desires first. Love is patient and kind, but lust burns with impatience. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. On the other hand, lust twists the truth and delights in whitewashing evil to make it look acceptable.
In fact, if you’re looking for a definition for lust, flip to 1 Corinthians 13 and replace the words “lust is not” for “love is.” You will discover that its character traits include insensitivity, sensuality, impurity, and a continual desire to indulge.
Is there someone whose time, attention, and affection you crave? Perhaps it’s not a person that you grasp for, but position, or power. Desire for someone or something becomes inordinate when it becomes consuming. So ask yourself this honest question, “How much time in a day do I spend thinking about this person? Or this thing? Or this position?” Also, “Where or to whom do my thoughts drift when my mind is relaxed?”
If an extraordinary amount of time is spent seeking this person or thing in your thoughts, then take the advice of Colossians 3:5, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature… impurity, lust, evil desires.”
Lord, I purpose to set my mind on things above, not on earthly things. Reveal those things in my life after which I lust, and then help me to mortify them in my flesh. May my life reflect love, pure and truthful.
