You're walking down a beach in the middle of the summer and see a woman scantily clad. Your mind starts to wander and you think lustful thoughts. Whose fault is it? It's her fault, right? After all, you think, she probably dressed that way just to get your attention. You're a guy and you were designed to be stimulated visually. So maybe it's God's fault, too.
WRONG.
Or maybe you're walking down a busy city street and a woman catches your eye. You can't help but want to run up to her, ask for her phone number, start picturing what a night together would look like...and start thinking, "If only my parents had taught me how to act around women." It's their fault you struggle with lust, right?
WRONG.
The only person or being that causes you struggle with any sin, including lust, is you:
"Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death."--James 1:13-15 (ESV)
"And he [Jesus] said to them, 'Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?'(Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, 'What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.'" -- Mark 7:18-23 (ESV)
"The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?"--Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV)
Your struggle with lust, along with all your sin, comes from your wicked heart. As the above passages show, you cannot blame anyone else for it, and if you want to start changing your heart, one thing you must realize is others do not control whether you lust or not.
So is there hope? Of course there is! But you must recognize that you cannot change your heart. It is truly deceitful above all things. Instead, your heart only changes by God's work through His Son:
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind."--James 1:5-6 (ESV)
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."--Galatians 2:20 (ESV)
"You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness."--Romans 8:9-10 (ESV)
The next blog post will be the first where I give practical advice. But first, you must realize that you cannot either blame anyone else nor change yourself--you must recognize that it is only through Christ's awesome work that you can change. And change you He will!
WRONG.
Or maybe you're walking down a busy city street and a woman catches your eye. You can't help but want to run up to her, ask for her phone number, start picturing what a night together would look like...and start thinking, "If only my parents had taught me how to act around women." It's their fault you struggle with lust, right?
WRONG.
The only person or being that causes you struggle with any sin, including lust, is you:
"Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death."--James 1:13-15 (ESV)
"And he [Jesus] said to them, 'Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?'(Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, 'What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.'" -- Mark 7:18-23 (ESV)
"The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?"--Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV)
Your struggle with lust, along with all your sin, comes from your wicked heart. As the above passages show, you cannot blame anyone else for it, and if you want to start changing your heart, one thing you must realize is others do not control whether you lust or not.
So is there hope? Of course there is! But you must recognize that you cannot change your heart. It is truly deceitful above all things. Instead, your heart only changes by God's work through His Son:
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind."--James 1:5-6 (ESV)
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."--Galatians 2:20 (ESV)
"You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness."--Romans 8:9-10 (ESV)
The next blog post will be the first where I give practical advice. But first, you must realize that you cannot either blame anyone else nor change yourself--you must recognize that it is only through Christ's awesome work that you can change. And change you He will!
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