Avoid Anything that Causes You to Lust

The Bible is explicit about sexual sin (e.g., Lev. 18) but as I mentioned in my last blog, it doesn’t mention masturbation. This is important because many Christians struggling with lust focus too much on not masturbating rather than on whether they allow lust in their lives. This is a colossal mistake because if you avoid anything that causes you to lust, then masturbation will cease to be a problem. We must avoid anything that causes us to lust.

Many Christians Don’t Realize How Often They Lust

Hard to do? Yes. But we need to strive to avoid anything that causes us to lust. Too many Christians don’t realize how often they lust every single day and it hardly bothers them until they click on hardcore porn or masturbate and then they feel like what the cow stepped on. Instead, Christians need to alarm about absolutely, positively every little bit of lust—and worry less about masturbation which the Bible doesn’t even mention. So I’ll say it again, get control of lust and masturbation won’t be an issue. If your lusts are out of control, good luck with trying to stop masturbating.

Let’s talk about controlling lust

One of the two most important things you can do to get control of lust is to avoid anything that causes/encourages you to lust. I have found, however, that some people will say that they can watch a certain amount of sensuality, sexuality, or nudity and it doesn’t encourage them to lust. But, the trouble is that the reason these people say it doesn’t stumble them is they see so much extremely lustful material that they hardly realize that these little bits fuel their lack of self-control. Look, if you sometimes indulge sexual fantasies and view porn, then those little bits that you don’t think matter, matter.

Don’t Let the Birds Nest in Your Hair

Martin Luther once said, “I can’t stop the birds from flying over head but I can keep them from making a nest in my hair.” He’s right on both counts. In this sex-charged world we will encounter lustful images but we don’t need to let them roost. For example, if a man lusts over a Victoria’s Secret ad (twigs and mud); then lusts after some low-cut blouse—more twigs, more mud; then ogles the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition—more twigs, more mud; then watches a movie “but you only see her breasts for a few seconds!”—more twigs, more mud; then add in a little fantasy—more twigs, more mud, and so on and on and on, etcetera, ad infinitum: pretty soon you could land a 747 on his head. It’s no wonder he finds himself unable to resist hard-core porn or fantasy incited masturbation! By the way, this isn’t just a male problem: a survey revealed that 34 percent of female readers of a Christian magazine admitted to seeking porn online. Jean E. and I know women who have been addicted to porn.

So, then, don’t read, watch, or listen to anything that encourages or causes you to lust. Nothing. If you can’t keep your eyes off jiggling bikinis, don’t go to the beach! If you lust after an actor in your favorite TV show—don’t watch it! Obviously this will result in a major lifestyle change for many. Some might be thinking “Wow, that would mean I won’t be able to do/see/hear a lot of things I enjoy.” True! But, this is what it costs to be free from lust. For more on this see my blog: “Lust: Are We Willing to Do what It Takes?”
More to follow.

Matthew 16:24: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Amen.