Love vs. Lust - Email Response
February 20th, 2007 by Arthur Dillon 
Anonymous wrote:
sex and lust are two differt things. most young people can not tell the difference between them. How can you differ between the two? Is it possible for a young man to love someone without even the thought of lust in their mind?
We live in a culture that bombards us daily with images designed to draw out lustful thoughts and desires. From Playboy and MTV to NBC and CBS, today’s mainstream media is trying to tell us that lust and love are the same. The trouble with separating the two comes directly out of a culture that makes no such distinction.
The Bible gives us a clear description of what true love is.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says:
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek it’s own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
That is how God defines love. Love gives while lust takes. Love attempts to fulfill someone else and lust attempts to fulfill ones own self. Simply put, love is unselfish and lust is selfish.If you understand fully the difference between love and lust, you can quickly identify lust when it enters your mind and immediately bring your mind under subjection to Christ. In a culture filled with sex, we must be careful to identify lust and refuse to allow ourselves to think on those things. Here are two scriptures that I have found particularly helpful in fighting lustful thoughts that are placed in front of us every day. May God bless you as you try to please Him with every thought, word and deed.
“…take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5
“I have made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I look upon a young woman? Job 31:1
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Category: Email Responses | 
February 20th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Just my two cents >>>> It is not a sin for bad thoughts to come into your mind.
I can’t control what the devil delivers to my brain, but I can control what I do with it. What I do with those impure thoughts leads me to sin or victory over sin.
Like Arthur said, take captive the thoughts that come into your mind or in other words, read those impure thoughts their rights and arrest them on the spot.
It’s kind of humorous, but I’ve said it before:
“You have the right to remain silent, Devil, anything you say or do will be used against you in the final judgment.”
Slap the cuffs on those thoughts by overpowering them with the Word and prayer.
February 20th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
if love is giving and lust is taking, then when you are married and you lust after your wife….is that still considerd taking from her and not giving? Even though sexual desires were ment for husband and wife…doesn’t lust still have the same meaning if it’s in marriage or not?
February 20th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
It is natural for a man to desire his wife. If that is the only aspect of the relationship, it seems like a pitiful marriage. Read the post from today on real friendship and how true Biblical relationships have giving on both parts without expecting anything. I think you can apply that principle to this question.
As far as the marriage question, lust is a system of the world. Scripture speaks vehemently against it. It is something we should rid ourselves of. Lust should not be apart of the Christian life. In the context of your question — before marriage, love is willing to wait, after, love is willing to give. Lust is never mentioned as a facet of a marital relationship….only true Biblical, Godly love.
February 20th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
When Brian said that you can’t control what comes in your brain but you can control what you do with what comes in your brain….In Matthew 5:28 Christ says that everyone who so much as looks at a woman with evil desire for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart…..so does that mean if a thoguht come in at that moment is adultery committed? even if you do not do anything with the thought?
February 21st, 2007 at 12:37 pm
The problem again is not the thought. It is what you do with the thought. A thought or a simple glance at a woman is not wrong. Where it becomes wrong is if the person dwells on that and creates fantasies about that thought. When you give yourself to those fantasies and create scenarios or intentions in your mind about those thoughts, then it is the same as though you have done it in real life.
The problem is not with the thought, it is what you do with the thought or what the Bible says - “evil desire for her ” that can lead to lust and fantasy.
March 22nd, 2007 at 8:02 am
Look at what 2 Cor. 10:3-5 says: 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down (imaginations), and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and (bringing into captivity every thought) to the obedience of Christ;
You can’t stop the thoughts but you have been given the power to bring them into “captivity”. It is totally up to the individual as to whether they will build a house and let the thought live in their mind, or captivate the thought, and evict it from the mind. The devil plants seed thoughts, but it’s up to you to water them and make them grow.