TURNING FROM TEMPTATION (3)

'The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life ...' 1 John 2:16

Lots of talk about lust today. It helps to think of lust not just as a sexual thing, but anything that we get obsessed with, in a way that's not holy. We'll break that down into the three categories from today's verse: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride. 'When the woman saw that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh), that it was pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes), and a tree desirable to make one wise (pride), she took of its fruit' (Genesis 3:6 NKJ).

Lust of the flesh is what you would throw all your money away on, take for your own gain or what could rob your integrity. Lust of the eyeballs is about wanting to feast on what's right in front of you rather than using any self-control. Dwell on it too long and by the time you're thinking clearly, you could be saying goodbye to valuable relationships and opportunities.

Pride is when we look at ourselves rather than God for any success - when we're right and everyone else is wrong, when we blame others rather than taking any responsibility. So those are three very different kinds of temptation, and our strategy should always be the same: bolt the doors; don't be tempted to take a peek. The life God has for you is broader, better and kinder to you. But you won't see it if you're stuck in temptation.

What now? Think of the kinds of boundaries you could put in place to stop you losing to temptation. For example, could you set up someone to receive emails of what you've been looking at on the internet? (xxxchurch.com have a great email accountability system.)

written by Bob Gass