Love Conquers Lust, Right-On

On one hand, this might turn out to be a racy topic. On another hand, it's a topic that people of all ages deal with, whether silently or openly. Whatever... it's gotta be said...

I believe... In fact, I KNOW that love conquers lust. And I'm not saying this to be cliche in a "love conquers all" kind of way. Follow me on this journey, but I warn you that I'm not sure where I'm going...

Lust is something I think most people struggle with; it's seeking to indulge in something pleasureable, whether it be a lust for power or a lust for moeny. In this case, I'm talking about sensual lust. If you're a teenager, unless you have a hormone imbalance or something, you've been here to some degree. If you are an adult, you USED to be a teenager, so don't play like I'm speaking French; after all, some adults never left that teenage lifestyle.

I'm gonna take you on a trip thru my mind as I contemplated something you might see as risque, but I promise you it has merit. Yeah, I have lustful thoughts sometimes. As long as the world around me presents sensual images, I'll probably have those now and again. But I fight these thoughts tooth and nail. Well, I had one of those thoughts recently, and I began trying to kill it from my mind. But I couldn't shake it, no matter how i tried. All my weaponry was only delayng it, and it wouldn't go away.

But, as I began to lose hope of defeating it, I found a new weapon. See, fighting it with morality and rationality wasn't doing it; it wasn't until I fought it from the bottom of my heart that I was able to put it behind me. What did I find in the bottom of my heart that defeated this great urge? It was love, people. Simply love.

Here's where it may get a little testy, but walk with me please. I thought about two scenarios: a "lustful encounter" with a stranger and a "loving encounter" with a wife. My eyes were opened so easily! See, in a lustful encounter, sex is just a moment's pleasure. It's the act, the climax, and that's it; the name of the game, and I do mean game, is to fill the fleshly desire and be done with it. And when you think about it, the experience is incomplete; you're performing an act of lust in search of love and meaning that's just not there. When a person sleeps around casually, the special bond of love is not present in the sexual experience. That's why they continue to sleep around, hoping that somehow doing the same thing will produce different results. And they end up getting addicted to the act itself and mistake that for love.

But a loving encounter between two people who are commited to each other, and who have no guilt because they're justified with God... that's a beautiful thing. I think about the kisses and caresses and loving words that would mean nothing to people who weren't commited to each other... It's something that goes beyond the flesh's fleeting desires; even when the act is over, the love continues. It goes beyond the superficial beauty of a stranger that fades with the morning. And the great thing about it... when the desire returns, it naturally falls in line with the direction of your love, and you can just let it go. In light of the loving encounter, the lustful encounter begins to look so inferior!

My pondering took me back to the fact that sex in itself is not a bad thing. It's the context that makes difference. Lust-motivated sex outside of God's will (premarital sex, extramarital sex) makes sex a bad thing; Love-motivated sex inside of God's will (between a husband and wife) makes sex a good thing. And I don't think having to wait is meant to be the "punishment" people make it out to be; the experience is so much more rewarding when it happens the right way.

So now, when lust descends on me, I have a weapon that really works! Because when you understand the beauty of love, taste of lust no longer fills you, and you lose your appetite for it. I feel so free now. And it's all because of what God has shown me about love.

So when I say "All Love", maybe now you see how much it really means to me. Not only is love my inspiration, as I said in Quest for Fire IV, but love is also my salvation. And now it means so much more to me when I read the Bible verse that says "God is Love."

All LoveB-)