Lust is Like a Cigarette Carton . . .

Mike Hosey, An Elder

C.S. Lewis once observed a great defect in a common English figure of speech.  That figure of speech points to the lust of a man when it says of him as he prowls the streets that he “wants a woman.”  Lewis observed, quite precisely, that it is not a woman the man wants.  Instead, he noticed that the man “wants a pleasure for which a woman happens to be the necessary piece of apparatus. How much he cares about the woman as such may be gauged by his attitude to her five minutes after fruition (one does not keep the carton after one has smoked the cigarettes).” Lewis was able to see what should be obvious in lust – that it is base and selfish. He also observed that “Lust is a poor, weak, whimpering, whispering thing compared with that richness and energy of desire which will arise when lust has been killed.”  He wasn’t arguing that lust isn’t powerful. Any man (or woman) who has ever succumbed to it can tell you just how gripping it can be. Instead, Lewis argues that there is something far more powerful and satisfying. I can testify to his truth.  I have been married to the same woman for more than 25 years.  I love and desire her more now – by several orders of magnitude – than I ever did when my body was more obliged to the pull of lust. But lust does have one ability more powerful than love.  It has the ability to destroy.  Proverbs 5:1-8 tells us how lust entices us to participate in the thrill of the moment without consideration to cost.  Proverbs 2:16-18 teaches us how it causes us to lose the paths of life. Both teach that lust leads to death.

Lust is always born out of biology. The programming of our biology is to reproduce. But our biology was ruined in the Garden of Eden when mankind chose sin over God. In that moment, our biology became corrupted -- perverted even.  And easily fooled. Our bodies will almost always give in to pleasure or the removal of pain before our spirits do.  But we are to crucify that biology and it's wrong desires (Galatians 5:24).

Unlike lust, love does not come out of biology. It comes out of willful choice. Lust is boorish and instinctual. It arises from the lowest parts of humanity.  Love, on the other hand, arises from intellect, will, and spirit. Consider how God loved us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). One must will oneself to love. If you don’t believe that, wait and see what happens when you have to face hard times with someone you say you love, but for whom you no longer have a feeling or physical attraction.

Lust is always a reaction.  Love is always an action.  Choose love.