The Lure And Cure Of Lust

Show me the man who has never looked at a woman with lust, and I'll show you a man

with a white cane who was blind from birth. None but a blind man could get through life

and not be captivated by God's crowning work of creation-woman. Anyone with an

ounce of artistic appreciation knows there are few, if any, more appealing sites than a

well formed female. This is not the conviction of dirty old men only, but it represents the

mind of men of every age, place, and race; godly and ungodly alike. Art Buchwald, the

popular secular newspaper columnist, told of his experience at a

Washington dinner party. He had every intention of being a perfect gentleman at this

party, but the woman to his right wore a black net pajama top with a neckline that

plunged down, he says, to heaven knows where, and the blouse was held up by only two

tiny strings that looked like they would break any minute. He writes, "God knows we've

been sinners and most men are trying to change their attitudes toward women. But when

you have nothing but bare backs and cleavage to stare at during dinner, how on earth

can any man keep his mind on Henry Kissinger?"

We could dismiss that as the struggle of the secular man, but it won't work. The

testimony of godly men through the ages is that the female body stimulates their lust.

Many women resent David for his lust after Bathsheba when he saw her bathing, and for

his foolish and sinful behavior that led him into adultery and murder. Despicable as it

was, most men do not despise David, for they know in their hearts that in that same

situation they may have done the same stupid thing under the lure of lust. Many godly

men have done the same thing, and many who haven't know it is an ever present

possibility.

Charles Swindoll, one of the most popular preachers today, always makes sure there

is a desk between him and the women he counsels, for he writes, "I simply recognize that

being a man, temptation is always on the back burner waiting to singe me." In his little

booklet on Resisting The Lure Of Lust, he writes, "Non-Christians and Christians alike

wrestle with its pressure and its persistence throughout their lives. Some think that

getting married will cause temptation to flee. It doesn't. Others have tried isolation. But

sensual imagination goes with them, fighting and clawing for attention and gratification.

Not even being called into Christian service helps. Ask any whose career is in the Lord's

work. Temptation is there relentlessly pleading for satisfaction." Swindoll is saying,

there is no escape from lust. There is no place to go, and no something to become, that

will take you out of the range of the arrows of forbidden desire.

This goes for women as well. Jesus does not mention women lusting for men, for at

that point in history women did not have the power and freedom. They were dominated

by men. But whenever women have had the power and freedom to be sexual aggressors

they have exhibited the same lust as men. One of the strongest examples of a lust led

person in the Bible is that of Potipher's wife. She admired the handsome servant her

husband had brought into the home, and one day when Joseph was home alone with her

she said in Gen. 39:7, "Come to bed with me." That is what you call the direct approach,

and only by the grace of God did Joseph escape her clutches.

We live in a period of time when the female is nearly, if not clearly, equal with the

male in sexual lust. This is no proof it is the end of hope for the human race, however,

for it has happened before. Martin Luther wrote of what was going on at the University

of Wittenberg in 1544. "The race of girls is getting bold, and run after the fellows into

their rooms and chambers and wherever they can, and offer them their free love." Sex

was not discovered in the 20th century. It has been a major problem throughout the

history of mankind, and nobody escapes the power and influence of lust. Not everybody

idolizes it and make it a god, but everybody must reckon with its presence.

L. Nelson Bell, father-in-law of Billy Graham, and a great preacher and author for

many years in Christianity Today, wrote on the imagination and its potential for lust. He

wrote, "It is, even for the true Christian the last frontier to surrender to the cleansing

and redemptive work of the living Christ." This is equivalent to saying, it is a never

ending battle for the Christian. Sometimes sickness, psychological handicaps, and old