Lust vs. Chastity (Purity)

Lust vs. Chastity (Purity)


"Like an open city with no defenses is the man with no check on his feelings. Proverbs 25:28

"This is the will of God, your holiness: that you refrain from immorality, that each of you knows how to acquire a wife for himself in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion" 1 Thess. 4:3-5a

"For the love of money is the root of all evils." 1 Timothy 6:10 (a)

"For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love." 2 Peter 1:5-7

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Philippians 4:8


Lust is the self-destructive drive for physical pleasure or for material possessions. It is an excessive love for something that you either shouldn't love or not love as much as you do. It is really about control. Lust is worshiping or idolizing anything material above God. Instead of putting your hope in God for your joy, you put all your hope in money or material things for your happiness. These things are needed to make you feel good, so lusting after things like money is what is really evil. It also can be the desire of power, financial gain, revenge, having an ego (self-importance) or treating someone like scum or a servant to accomplish your own personal will.

Sexual excitement without love is lust and is immoral. Prolonged sexual fantasies are desires that seek to use people and things with the intent of satisfying your own needs and desires. Using a person just as a means of sexual gratification instead of treating a person with respect and dignity and as a child of God is wrong and a serious sin.

Sexual promiscuity and immoral practices turns a person into an animal. It's thinking you can use your body as you see fit and that you're not hurting anyone. It is dominating another person or having an attraction turn into a conquest. Sexual desire is not only a physical attraction but emotional or mental as well. It can not only be a physical attraction but you can even being attracted to someone's mind or demeanor. Lust of the eyes and the flesh lead to sexual sins. Looking at nude pictures or treating or seeing a person as a sexual object does not respect them as a full person with a personality and a soul. You must have self-control and self-discipline to avoid premarital sex, perverse sex, pornography, adultery, homosexuality, and prostitution.

Chastity is innocence and purity in body and soul. Purity is keeping yourself uncontaminated from the world, the flesh and the devil. It is the ability to keep your mind and heart from bad thoughts, desires and feelings. It helps you to guard your senses as well as your own body and those of others as a temple of the Holy Spirit. It is also being chaste in your behavior, manner of clothing and appearance and reflecting your love for God. The purpose of God's creation of sexual feelings was for procreation of humankind. Losing your virginity outside of marriage is sinful and will ruin your reputation. You are called to holiness. Inappropriate images in video games, movies and TV shows can lead to having disordered desires. They can leave mental images in you that can lead to impure thoughts and actions. You can be tempted by dirty magazines and pornography on the Internet.

You can practice romantic courtship and friendship and abstain from sexual conduct if in an unmarried state. You need to try and keep a pure heart and be strong to avoid this sin. Serving your personal desires sets your will against God's. You must develop the ability to refrain from being distracted and influenced by temptation. Self-control is controlling our actions to do what is right. The Holy Spirit will help you do what is right. When you hear Him and obey what He says, you are using your gift of self-control.

Joseph faced a lot of different temptations from Potiphar's wife to thoughts of revenge on the brothers that sold him into slavery. Yet Joseph never wavered in his devotion to the Lord. His actions were always defined by his relationship and faith in God. When he turned down Potiphar's wife, it was with the words, "How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?"

We can all learn lessons from Joseph's self-control. It is so easy today to give into the temptations that you face. Sometimes it is more difficult to walk away from temptation than to give into it. After all, there is so much peer pressure to drink, have sex, do drugs, not go to church, and more. God will eventually reward your self-control and help you to overcome temptations.