A Check on Lust – The Rule of Law: Government of the Heart (5)

A Check on Lust

The Rule of Law: Government of the Heart (5)

The Law teaches us to control our fleshly desires.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” Exodus 20:17

We must not desire anything but what God desires. By learning to fear and love Him, according to the teaching of His Law, we learn the proper way to love our neighbors and to hate that which rebels against or would thwart the purposes, pleasure, and plan of God. But, in spite of being redeemed, our hearts remain prone to deceitfulness and wickedness (Jer. 17:9). In our hearts it is possible to sin against God without that sin ever coming to expression in words or deeds.

This is the sin of covetousness, or, especially with respect to our fleshly desires, the sin of lust.

Lust is simply inordinate desire, typically, directed in a way that would violate the Law of God or the wisdom of the divine order, could the affection of lust be realized in practice. Sinful human beings are apparently rather easily provoked to lust. We may experience covetousness because of the possessions or privileges others enjoy, some place they hold in the eyes of our peers, or even their physical appearance. Lust begins to arise in our hearts as we linger in thought over the advantage, possession, or features of another, so that that thought begins to bring forth desire in our hearts—the desire, or merely the idea of possessing, the contemplated thing.

Lust can thus poison the soul, overriding sound reason, setting aside established values and priorities, and leading to actions contrary to the revealed Word of God. Because of this, we must be ever aware of when lust is beginning to rise within us, and, through confession, repentance, and thanksgiving, be done with it before it takes root and begins to grow to fruition.

We are taking the Law of God to heart when we submit to its counsel concerning what we must and what we must not desire in our hearts. The Law, as Paul noted, can help us to recognize and resist all forms of covetousness (Rom. 7:7).

For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the life of faith, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.ailbe.org and click on our Bookstore, then Church Issues.

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