Lust brings sin, and sin brings death II
Greeting, dear friends! Welcome to „Daily Word for Spiritual Edification”! I pray that God’s power is with you this day and gives you victory.
As I pointed out, God is not the author of evil and tragedy in our lives; on the contrary, He is the Answer and the Solution of our problems. Yesterday we established that sufferings, tragedies, sorrows, illnesses, grief and other similar things gradually lead to death. The Bible says that
“when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James, 1:15).
Yesterday we started discussing what desire is and why it brings suffering into our lives. We saw that in this context desire or lust is strong craving for something forbidden or illegal; it is when a person wants something that does not comply with God’s will and denies God’s authority in his life.
- Lust is excessive appetite for something. For example, uncontrollable sexual desire leads to rape, fornication, adultery and different types of sexual perversion. It can also lead to sexual illnesses, sometimes incurable. Moreover, feelings of guilt, depression, suicidal tendencies, breaking up of marriages, sufferings of children, violence, hatred and other similar things are often the result of sexual lust. Lust can also be experienced in the area of finances, drinking or eating. It all has brought pain and suffering to many people in the form of some addiction: alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, stealing, treachery, murder etc.
- Lust is instantaneous pleasure that robs a person of the future and buries his destiny in God.
«But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives» (1 Timothy, 5:6).
It talks here about a person who is alive, but in essence is dead. No wonder that many people commit suicide, because they do not see any meaning to life. It is the result of giving in to lust!
«By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward» (Hebrews, 11: 24-26).
Moses made the right choice of not living for the passing pleasures of sin. He saw that sinful pleasure is only for a moment; afterwards, it turns into a snake that bites back. The choice that Moses made led to the salvation of millions of Hebrews. The tragedies on our planet would be greatly minimized if every one of us started making choices based on God’s Word and not on lust.
The choices you are making today are YOUR CHOICES. You have to realize that lust gives birth to sin, and sin gives birth to death. The good news is that when you follow God’s Word and His holiness it brings you life and blessing.
Be blessed! We will continue tomorrow!
Pastor Rufus Ajiboye
