Lust or love?

[Riverwalker]

Lust is selfish, greedy and uncaring

Love is selfless, giving and caring

But what separates a Saint from a Sinner, is not that saint does not fall down, but rather that a saint gets up.

We Should seek to be perfect as God is perfect.  But that is rarely the case.  For the weaknesses we face, (mine is not lust but something else) we must rest on the grace of God

2 Corinthians 12:9

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

[missmuffet]

10 minutes ago, Whyme said:

i agree. Being hard on myself doesnt help. I did that for years. Now im plowing in hope, one day at a time.

One day at a time with God is the best way to conquer this earth 

[Whyme]

Just now, missmuffet said:

One day at a time with God is the best way to conquer this earth 

Amen. Jesus said to not worry about tomorrow. Today has enough trouble of its own. One day at a time.

[johnthebaptist]

2 hours ago, Whyme said:

We are commanded to love but are we loving or are we lusting? This is about sex but not only, its also about lust for money or material things. Do we love others with our money or do we lust with it? (God help me.)  And sex, do we value our lust more than Gods love? Do we fool ourselves into thinking our lust is actually love? Do we choose it more than God? If you feel convicted dont worry, all is not lost. Hope in Jesus and never give up. What are your thoughts? 

God defines adultery very clearly: Do not look lustfully at another (Matthew 5:28), do not fornicate (Mark 7:21), and do not engage in homosexual activity (Leviticus 18:22). It's amusing watching people trying to defend these activities.

[Starise]

I have always seen love and lust as two totally different things so I never confused the two.

People lust after material things, they lust sexually. I don't even think we can put those two into the same category. Maybe this comes from my old KJV days. The connotation for lust is generally seen as sexual for me. It is much different than wanting a brand new car when I can't afford one. Some might say that is 'lusting' for a car. For me, it's just someone who wants a car badly enough to do something irrational in trying to get it. I don't have a physical urge to want a new car( if you do I recommend you seek counseling immediately lol).

I equate sexual lust more closely with the physical, we are hungry, we are sleepy, we have certain attractions. All of this is physical. Yet we don't feed the desire to eat with another person (unless you happen to be a cannibal but I won't go there). Your body wants rest. This does not involve another person. This sets sexual lust apart as something different. God gives us marriage for this particular desire. The desire is part of the bigger picture. Love,Intimacy and reproduction within a marriage. So why is this one sometimes so difficult to curb? There are several reasons none of which are an excuse to attempt to justify it outside of marriage. Bodies often mature before a person gets married. Sometimes long before. There's no switch on this desire. You can't simply turn it off. It's more like a fire. If you stop feeding it it won't burn. If you feed it, this desire can overcome you. We have to stay away from the things that feed this fire. It might be reading certain kinds of books or looking at certain types of TV shows, going on the web at certain times that light those embers again. Once the fire is started it can be difficult to put out.

Sometimes we program our bodies to want things, like drugs . For sex, most bodies come pre programmed, although our wrong actions can intensify what's there.

Men especially really need to THINK about what they are doing when it comes to this. It is easy to mix lust up with what we think is love when it really isn't. There are great looking girls that make terrible wives. I'm not going too far down this road because I think you get my jist here. Make choices based on your heart and sound judgement, put the physical attraction last on that list. It should be there but it should not overpower everything else. We can sometimes let an emotional attraction override logic and common sense as well. You can always decide to let TIME be on your side. If you aren't sure take all the time you need to pray about it and be sure.

Love is what stands the test of time when nothing else is left. 

[Whyme]

2 hours ago, johnthebaptist said:

God defines adultery very clearly: Do not look lustfully at another (Matthew 5:28), do not fornicate (Mark 7:21), and do not engage in homosexual activity (Leviticus 18:22). It's amusing watching people trying to defend these activities.

Lust is not merely sexual activity. We all lust after sex, money, material things. Show me a man without lust and i'll show you a perfect man. At least thats my opinion.

Edited April 8, 2021 by Whyme

[johnthebaptist]

4 minutes ago, Whyme said:

Lust is not merely sexual activity. We all lust after sex, money, material things. Show me a man without lust and i'll show you a perfect man. At least thats my opinion.

We all lust? Where did you get that idea?

[Whyme]

Lust to me is not being content with what God has given. Maybe i need a car, maybe thats not lust, but if i want a better car than i need maybe that is lust.

[enoob57]

4 hours ago, Whyme said:

We are commanded to love but are we loving or are we lusting? This is about sex but not only, its also about lust for money or material things. Do we love others with our money or do we lust with it? (God help me.)  And sex, do we value our lust more than Gods love? Do we fool ourselves into thinking our lust is actually love? Do we choose it more than God? If you feel convicted dont worry, all is not lost. Hope in Jesus and never give up. What are your thoughts? 

I have lust in my flesh and the Love of God in my heart and there is daily war between the two... I am so thankful I will leave this flesh behind when He takes me home!

[Whyme]

3 minutes ago, johnthebaptist said:

We all lust? Where did you get that idea?

Sorry, i thought lust was at the very core of sin. The love of money, or perhaps the lust of it, is the root of all evil?