To lust is good!

[amdntstr]

As someone who was addicted to drugs, I do see a difference between lust, desire, and love.

Lust is of the flesh. It is uncontrolable and easy to do as all fleshy things are.

Love is only an emotion, but it is also an action. It is something that we do.

Desire can go either way. Depends on whether or not what we desire is from God or His will.

[Openly Curious]

1 Corinthians 16:15--"I beseech you, brethren ye know the house of Stephanas that it is the firstfruits of Achaia and that they have "addicted" themselves to the ministry of the saints.

Does anybody here at worthy have an "addiction" to the ministry of the saints?

OC

[vrjenny]

Okay...i am going to take a crack at this... I do believe what Fred is trying to say might be misunderstood. He is not telling anyone to lust God....he is not even trying to tell anyone it is scriptural to lust anything. He is trying to use that as a comparison to show an intensity ....to show how much our desire and intensity should be for the Lord.

We all know that lust is sinful. It is an unbalance of desire...it is an extreme state of desire....so should our desire be for the Lord. He is not saying...that you are to say..." Lord...me, me,me.." I think though..we all do remember at a point in our life when there was a lust of some fashion...of course that was before turning our life over to the Lord... but...i am not sure there isn't anyone that has not lust something or someone in our lives...Can you remember even a hint of what that intensity was like? He is just showing us that... as a comparison...that as a person is bonded to that thing by such a strong desire(lust) we should have an equally,unselfishly strong desire for the Lord...the one where you can't get Him out of your mind...where you will do whatever you can to get more of Him... you are desperately passionate to get in His presence.... ooohhh...just to get an morsel of His spiritual food....He is your need...you can't get enough of Him... If we are to have a desire to worship the Lord..why can't it be a driving passion,need, longing, desire...that can't be quenched.

Now...just what if...there is someone on here that can relate to a lust that he mentioned...they could be a babe in christ...someone that just turned their life over to the Lord...they may not fully understand yet the intensity of which one can have for christ...they may may be a little reserved in their chase after God...i mean...do babies start of on solid foods...or running... soooo...what i am getting at is this... just possibly...this can help them see how intense they can go after God...chase Him... We all know it is wrong to lust..it is a sin...and so we teach fellow brothern through the Word...even the babes in christ that and that it is selfish...so now with this knowledge...they strive to stay clear of that(which is good)....but they may be apprehensive to have such desire in anything...in fear that it might trigger something in them... maybe make them feel wrong, dirty, etc. ....so here it can show someone...how to turn from the selfishness of lust...but use the same level of intensity to pursue God and an intimate relationship with Him. I do not believe Fred was meaning that we should pursue the Lord with an attitude of "me,me,me"...but rather we should pursue the Lord with and attitude of worship,praise, and love towards God...for God.

I have been told that lust is an unbalance of desire for something or someone......so....in an unselfish manner can we not have such an intense or unbalanced desire for the Lord? Hmmm....to a crack addict...the crack is their "God"....it is their "life"....they "worship" it...they feel forever bonded to it.....they let it identify who they are.....they think of the crack nonstop....they believe they will die without it...the need drives them.... now...i am speaking of a darkness....an evil...sin... but let's step into the light... God is our God, right? ....He is our life right? Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. we should worship Him with all our being, right? Psa 29:2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. Psa 99:5 Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; [for] he [is] holy. Are we not bonded to God through Christ? .....does anyone actually consider themselves something of worth...without Christ?....Does He not complete us....do we not let Christ in us identify who we are???....is God forever on your heart, mind,and lips....shouldn't he be???....shouldn't we think of Him nonstop...how great He is...How He can be glorified in our lives and actions....Do we not know and believe that without God we are destined to death and hell???.....does your need for Him to feel loved and worshiped by you...your need for Him to be moved(emotion)by you.... not drive you to worship Him...to show Him your love...to lay prostrate on your face calling out " Holy, Holy, Holy"....

Are we truly saying that we can't pull God out of the box, we've crammed Him in, and see that He could use this to speak to someone?

You know..in this world...fanatics can be bad people...can cause a lot of harm.... but what about being a fanatic for God... Have you ever been called a Jesus Freak? What about being a "Fan" of God?

fa‧nat‧ic  /fəˈn

[sierra21]

Hmm...where to begin? I've purposely been avoiding this topic due to the name but tonight I finally decided to read into it.

I see the point in all of this, however, I must disagree. And in my disagreement I am NOT saying you are WRONG, I am just saying that my relationship is DIFFERENT. I don't know what your relationship with Christ is like, and I have no right to even begin to ponder that.

Anywho- the meat of my post here...when I think about Jesus, well I just get all warm and fuzzy inside...sometimes when I pray I get shivers down my spine. When I'm sad I cry out to Jesus, and he holds me...he really does. When Jesus answers my prayers I am in complete and utter awe of how BLESSED I am to have him in my life. When I talk about Jesus, my eyes light up and I've been told I even blush a bit.

I guess my point here is...my relationship with Christ is SO unlike any human relationship...because it isn't! For me to compare my love of chocolate ice cream with the love I feel for Jesus...well it just seems ridiculous. Even when I think of the times I've been in love with people (twice, not including family)- it was nothing like my love for Jesus.

To sum up- there is no comparison, no easy way of explaining my desire, love and devotion for my saviour Jesus Christ. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sierra

[VRSpock]

I'm not offended or dismayed by anyone's responses to my post. As I said, I'm not going to argue against anyone's viewpoint as the words posted are not my own....that much I am certain of. I'm not going to argue about anyone's view of whether or not I received it from God either....as that is not important.

With that said, I'd like anyone who has read this post to now read the book in the bible, Song of Solomon. Then reflect on what has been discussed here regarding how passionate our desire for the Lord should be. The book Song of Solomon is equally as controversial as my original post on this thread, so much so that some people actually questioned its inclusion in the Canonical Bible and from what I've read on it, most scholars are split 50/50 on whether it is just speaking of a love story in the natural or if there is more to it than that.

Christ is always referred to as the bridesgroom and the Church (body of Christ) is always referred to as the bride. We tend to always think of the bride as being pure and without blemish, but we tend to forget the other side of the bride's character when applying that image to scripture....and that is her youthful, burning longing to be with her bridesgroom. So I tend to lean toward the latter, that Song of Solomon applies equally to the natural and the spiritual.

This is all that I'm allowed to say on this one.

God bless everyone.