No Big Deal? – The Kingdom Curriculum XI (6)

No Big Deal?

“You shall not commit adultery.” Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18

“None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the LORD.” Leviticus 18:6

Still Not Convinced?

It’s possible that someone may be thinking that we’re making too big a deal out of lust. Isn’t lust just a harmless indulgence? Can’t we lust and not sin, not go on to the commitment of actual adultery?

We certainly may be able to lust without committing adultery with our bodies, but we still have Jesus’ words telling us that, if we lust after a woman in our hearts, we’ve already broken the commandment. Lust in the heart is the moral and spiritual equivalent of adultery with the body. And breaking any commandment at any level disrupts our fellowship with God, which can only be restored through confession and repentance in the Holy Spirit, and threatens our relationships with our neighbors.

But lust unchecked is never content; it always wants to invite more of its wicked companions to share the nest. Just ask David. Lust led to adultery; adultery led to deception; adultery and deception led to conspiracy; conspiracy led to murder; and all this led to the death of an innocent child, and more family problems than you can shake a Torah at. Or ask David’s son, Amnon. Gazing often upon his half-sister led to lust; lust led to rape; rape to humiliation; and humiliation to murder, rebellion, and the jeopardizing of an entire kingdom.

Despite its widespread popularity and cultural pervasiveness, lust is a big deal. The statistics reporting the breakdown of social structures, values, and mores bear out the truth that unbridled lust leads to destructive behavior, which is precisely what God, out of His great love for us, was attempting to forestall when He commanded us not to look upon the naked bodies of our neighbors. It’s better to recognize lust for what it really is, and what it can really do, and to deal with it accordingly.

How can we use the Law of God to make wise ethical choices? Order your copy of The Ground for Christian Ethics today. Go to www.MyParuchia.com, point your browser to “Publications,” then click on the drop-down option, “Waxed Tablet Publications.”

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore.

T.M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.