LUST-GENERAL
The man who
carries on an act of impurity is not simply breaking a human code, nor even
sinning against the God who at some time in the past gave him the gift of the
Spirit. He is sinning against the God who is present at that moment, against One who continually gives the Spirit. The impure act is an act of despite against
God’s good gift at the very moment it is being proffered… This sin is seen in
its true light only when it is seen as a preference for impurity rather than a
Spirit who is holy.
Leon Morris
The First and Second Epistles to the
Thessalonians, Eerdmans, 1959, p. 128.
If lustful
looking be so grievous a sin, then those who dress and expose themselves with
desires to be looked at and lusted after...are not less, but even more guilty.
In this matter it is only too often the case that men sin, but women tempt them
so to do. How great, then, must be the guilt of the great majority of the
modern misses who deliberately seek to arouse the sexual passions of our young
men. And how much greater still is the guilt of most of their mothers for
allowing them to become lascivious temptresses.
A.W. Pink
The
Sermon on the Mount, The Law and Adultery: Matthew
5:27-32.
To look to
Christ to meet our perceived psychological needs is to Christianize our lusts.
We are asking God to give us what we want, so we can feel better about
ourselves, or so we can have more happiness, not holiness, in our lives.
Edward T. Welch
When People are Big and God is Small, P&R
Publishing, 1997, p. 150. Used by Permission.