“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20)
Do you remember what Jimmy Carter once said about the sin of lust? Then President Carter shocked the nation in November of 1976 when he admitted that he repeatedly looked at other women with lust.
“I try not to commit a deliberate sin,” Carter confessed. “I recognize that I’m going to do it anyhow, because I’m human and I’m tempted. And Christ set some almost impossible standards for us. Christ said, ‘I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman with lust has in his heart already committed adultery’. I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do—and I have done it—and God forgives me for it.”
I admire Mr. Carter for his honesty. The sin of lust is a common problem for a lot of Christians. And President Carter is correct. God has and will forgive him for it. Indeed, Romans 3:23 reminds us, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
My problem with President Carter’s statement is that he exhibited no conviction about lust. He’s right. Lust is a human quality that is difficult if not impossible for many of us to overcome. What Carter overlooked, however, is that nothing is impossible for God to overcome. In fact, God’s expects us to fight temptation and seek his help with deliverance from sinful desires.
The Bible teaches us that God’s grace can and will offer guidance to us about issues like lust. Titus 2:11-12 promises, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” Even Paul once admitted that he had prayed for deliverance three times about an unspoken matter in his life only to hear God say, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Paul realized that God’s grace and only God’s grace could help him to overcome imperfections in his life. He told the church at Corinth that he actually took delight in his hardships. Finally he understood as he exclaimed, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10)
Several years ago there was a movie about a shipwreck with only a few survivors who were left drifting aimlessly on the ocean in a lifeboat. Their rations disappeared in a few days and they were left deliriously thirsty under the scorching sun. One night, while the others were asleep, one man ignored his shipmates’ warnings and gulped down some salt water. He was the first to die.
Ocean water contains seven times more salt than the human body can safely ingest. Salt water accelerates dehydration because the kidneys demand extra water to flush the overload of salt. In other words, the more salt water someone drinks, the thirstier he gets. Ironically, the man in the lifeboat actually died of thirst.
Christians who lust are much like that man in the lifeboat. They thirst desperately for something that looks like what they want. But they don’t realize that it is precisely what they do not need. If they fail to heed the warnings that are associated with it, it can kill them. That’s what Paul meant when he said, “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23)
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