Lust isn’t just sexual.
What is lust?
“I must have it at once!”
That’s what lust is.
All men have to fight the daily battle of sexual lust. And many women as well. It is the most obvious of avenues. But there is oh so much more.
Lust isn’t boxed in the category of sexuality. I can lust emotionally. Relationally. Spiritually. I can lust anything. It isn’t simply a sexual struggle.
No, it goes far deeper than that.
Any time I feel that I deserve to have something, and to have it soon; I am in danger of lusting. For lust always brings a sense of entitlement. But love is patient. And long-suffering.
* * *
It may be shocking to discover how often we lust.
Perhaps some girls lust a boyfriend. I’m not talking sexually, but emotionally. Lust says, “I must have the emotional security that comes from being in a relationship. And I need to have it now.”
The question is, does she really want him—or what he can give her?
I once struggled with emotional lust. I was, as one author put it, emotionally promiscuous.
I’d always had the ability to connect with girls at deeper level. I intuitively knew how to make them feel special. And this caused me to feel quite important. Though I had no intention of anything more than a friendship I would spend hours alone with girls, having deep conversations, and just emotionally connecting.
I broke a lot of hearts. I told myself that I genuinely cared for these girls, but what I really wanted was an emotional fix; to drink from the beauty of a woman, while offering no strength in return. I even wrote a song about it. But it wasn’t love. It was emotional lust.
Have we lusted a marriage?
A wise woman told me recently, “Many women have an intense desire to be married, but no desire to be a wife.” If your longing to be married is greater than your desire to be a great spouse you can know, it isn’t love. It’s lust.
Don’t get me wrong. Guys do this too. As John Eldredge so incineratingly put it: “Most men, you see, marry for safety; they choose a woman who will make them feel like a man but never really challenge them to be one.”
Us men easily lust admiration. I certainly have. I would rather look good now, than embrace all that it takes to become something truly great. For to do that would require admitting that I’m not worthy of admiration just yet.
Lust can be as simple as buying a car or maxing out a credit card at the mall.
We lust all the time.
* * *
Lust says, “I must have this at once.”
Love says, “I will wait. However long it takes.”
Waiting is so hard isn’t it? But always worth it. So let’s you and I commit to be people of love, shall we?
Tantalizing Tuesdays 
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