[ Flashing Blinker for ‘lane change’]

Let’s wade into a topic that may or may not... interest people today: sexual lust. What could possibly be uncomfortable with this topic? And to make it more interesting, we will compare it to what we humans know as ‘sexual desire’, (something entirely different than ‘lust’) and was actually dreamed up and designed by God our Creator, if you can believe that. We’ll take a look first though, at, sexual desire, a ‘God-given’ gift meant to be enjoyed by husband and wife. (Prov. 5:18-19; Gen. 3:16)

We learn early on from the opening pages of Genesis that after God created man and woman, male and female… (Gen. 1:27), and in His image, He proceeded to ‘bless them’ and then told them: “Be fruitful and multiply…and fill the earth…” (28). And God saw all this as being ‘good’. (30).

Now in order for this ‘multiplying’ to take place, we all know what has to happen first between a man and a woman, in order for them to reproduce and bear children… who will eventually grow up into adults and repeat and continue the process. I’ll spare you the how-to-talk on the ‘birds and the bees’ today, but I just need to touch on this one element that was crucial in order for this ‘act’ to take place. And it has to do with sexual desire/attraction which was important in order to draw the man and woman together in a moment of intimacy so that the ‘seed’ (sperm) provided by the male could fertilize the egg carried by the woman.

I still have a faint memory from when I was a young lad and my parents (Mom) explained in simple yet somewhat detailed terms, how babies are made. What struck me as being odd at the time was the question I wanted to ask: who…and how…did one ‘initiate’ this process to copulate? I mean, how awkward that all seemed to me… being at an age where I had no idea what ‘sexual desire’ even was. I still chuckle at the story where the young child asked their mother: “Mommy…did you want a boy or a girl when you had me?” Mom smiles and tells them: “Actually, all I wanted was a backrub.” :- )

Allow me to share a simple illustration that I have used for years when explaining how our God-given sexual desire works; and I like to use the example of a ‘pilot light’ that is designed to ignite gas water heaters and stoves. When the appliance is installed and turned on, there is a small gas line that feeds a small flame in the unit after it is ‘lit’. The flame always stays on, but is rarely noticed. Only after the flow of gas is activated does the pilot light do its job feeding a flame of fire that will then be used to heat water for cleaning/bathing, or cooking food in/on the stove. When the ‘need’ has been met, the gas flow diminishes, and as the appliance is turned off...all that remains is the quiet warm glow of a pilot light buried in the protective shelter of the appliance.

When children grow into young adults, we all go through a stage known as ‘puberty’ as you all well know. All kinds of changes take place in our bodies and one of them includes the ‘lighting of a pilot light’ that we know to be sexual desire. It is what fuels the attraction between the human species . This is completely ‘normal’ and as stated previously - designed by God. I will say that from a biblical perspective, God’s design and plan was intended for this to be shared between husband and wife only…so when after they are married …the marriage could/would be consummated.

We ‘believers’ are also aware that anything God does, Satan is known to either mimic, confuse, corrupt and/or pervert. We are, after all…not ‘ignorant of his schemes’. (2 Cor. 2:11) But more on that later.

So back to our gas appliance that has a built-in pilot light. As normal of a function that this warm glow of a flame provides, we know that when mis-used or even defective, it can produce dangerous and devastating results. An unexpected surge in gas can cause an eruption of intense flames to occur and start a destructive fire. That’s one reason why you would not take a can of oily or gas soaked rags and store them in the closet next to the hot-water heater. We are also aware that there have been occasions when acts of arson, and worse, have been committed by someone turning on all the gas stove tops in a house before exiting the building knowing it’s only a matter of time before the invisible fuel will come in contact or close enough to the small pilot light and then there is a fierce explosion that destroys everything around it.

Friends, there is a very ‘fine line’ here where if we are not careful, we can give ‘place to the devil’ (Eph. 4:27) and allow ‘sexual desire’ to erupt or evolve into... ‘sexual lust’, and then it is no longer ‘hormones on steroids’ that are at work here; now there is a ‘spirit’ involved, as Paul warns us of in Eph. 6:12 & 4:27. Now I realize how silly this suggestion would sound to anyone who scoffs or easily dismisses the idea that a ‘spiritual’ world of influence even exists out there. But all I can do is share what I know to be truth from God's word.

Now this is where Satan comes into the picture when there is an attempt to take something that is ‘good’…and then turn it to use for something ‘bad’ which in the end leaves much destruction and heartache. And we all know who came to ‘steal, kill, and destroy’. (John 10:10)

Tomorrow (Lord willing)…we will look at what sexual ‘lust’ is and how it compares to sexual desire.