Seven Deadly Sins: Lust

When you pray for things, you don't get them 

because you want them for the wrong reason -

for your own lusts (pleasure).

James 4:3

 

Lust is defined as:  An intense or obsessive desire, especially one that is sexual.  Notice that lust is not just sexual craving.  We humans lust for many things, including power and privilege.  The Seven Deadly Sins, however, seem to concentrate on the bodily aspects of lust.

Lust:  The inordinate craving for the pleasures 

of the body.

Your average college-age guy would say there is nothing at all "inordinate" about lust.  It is a normal physical reaction that demands expression.  Since God created sex and sexual desire, the sin has to be something other than the basic physical act itself.  I think that the sin of lust occurs at the point when the decision is made that this overwhelming craving can and should be fulfilled any way I please, anywhere I please, any time I please.

God created sex to be part and parcel of a relationship of love.  Lust is the antithesis of love.  Love's first concern is for the needs of the other person.  Lust's first concern is for myself - my wants, needs and desires. Love strives to act with responsibility.  Lust is blind to consequences.  Other people become ways of satisfying our needs -  mere objects to give us pleasure.  Eventually, lust views others as simply a means to an end, with the consequence of obtaining pleasure by force, if necessary.  No wonder God said, "I can't even answer your prayers, because everything you ask for is simply fuel to feed the fire of your own passions."