Deceitful Lusts

The Lord has been putting words in my mind again for me to meditate upon. To give them a look see from more than one side. The words "deceitful lusts" have been showing up for quite some time. I came across them again in the Bible study that I'm teaching and they have been popping up over and over again for me to think about.

Those words come from the Bible.

Ephesians 4:22 (NKJV) that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,

I am often amazed that the Bible which was written so long ago is still so spot on today.

Lusts that lie to us. Lust is always a lie no matter what the object is. It is not the object that lies, it is the lust. The thought or feeling or compulsion that some action or thing will cause a desired state of being in ones self. That is the lie. Food does not speak to us. Only our desire for it speaks to us.

Since this is a Diabetes blog I will be focusing on food but the idea applies to all addiction whether it be food, heroin, cigarettes, or sex. It is impossible for the object to fill the need.... or desire for it.... or the lust. That is why it is a lie. It makes us think that we will be better off when we have that "whatever" it is that we lust after or desire.

The online definition at m-w.com for lust is: to have an intense desire or need : crave; specifically: to have a sexual urge. The obsolete definitions are: a: pleasure, delight; b: personal inclination: wish

 These are the examples of usage that are provided, too:

1. He was consumed by lust.
2. He was driven by a lust for power (___________or whatever you want to insert in the blank).
3. Lust for chocolate drew her into the candy store.

Look at that! "He was consumed by lust." It was the lust that was doing the consuming and what got consumed was the person!!

And the next one "He was driven by a lust for (fill in the blank)" really describes the compulsion, the drive, the relentlessness of unbridled lust.

And you know they had to include CHOCOLATE!! It was the lust that drew her into the candy store not the chocolate!!

Included in the word is the idea that there will be some pleasure, something that will delight us. It is a very personal inclination.

Inclination being:

: a feeling of wanting to do something : a tendency to do something
: a slanting surface

: the act of bending your head or body forward : the act of inclining your head or body

I think the word "addiction" somehow softens the blow because it is rather abstract, but "lust" seems more concrete or accurate. It pictures the intense feeling of want, the inclining of the body in the wayward direction of the object.

I observed my lust for oreo cookies again tonight. It got so strong I nearly set out to get some but came up short and prayed instead and God soon made it disappear.

In the past when I've gotten a craving for a particular food, it has stayed on my mind until I satisfied it. It could be days, but did not disappear until I acquired the object and ate it. The eating of it usually takes only minutes so it just seems odd that it could stay on my mind for days. But tonight was different and I'm not clear on what or why, other than to say the Lord helped me because it did disappear.

I think it is rather odd that I crave Oreo cookies because, as kid, I really did not like them. There were other cookies that I preferred. I'll not go into listing those because that would be a distraction. 

"Grows corrupt" is another fascinating idea. Corrupt means decay and this decay spreads. It is like a radiating or sprawling festering, disintegrating grayness.

Our spirit grows corrupt through the deceitfulness of lust. If we believe the lies, it leads us nowhere good.

Definition: Ambush -- to attack (someone or something) by surprise from a hidden place (lurk, waylay) ... related words: assault, attack, strike, mug, jump, pounce, capture, ensnare, entrap, hunt, prey on, stalk.

That is what it feels like when the craving suddenly appears but since I know it is deceitful, I don't have to believe it, any more. It cannot do for me what only God can do.


PASSAGE OF TIME........

I did not post the above because it did not feel complete to me at the time but I've got more to say on the subject now.

A few days later the Oreo craving was still showing its head but getting a little less loud. I had been not acting on it until I went to QT and got some gas. It occurred to me that if I was going to get some Oreos this is the place because I can get a smaller package of them, than at the grocery store. So I went in, bought the small pack of Oreos and a king size Payday. I felt like I was a robot.

Later when I got home and opened the package and ate I sat there and noticed the eating process... how they felt, what they tasted like, what they looked like. The eating was "OK" but nothing special. The same with the Payday which I no longer wanted after the first bite but finished it anyway.

That was very odd, I thought. Later, I realized I really needed to eat some protein so I got out a can of tuna and seasoned it and put some horse radish mustard on it. As I was eating I noticed that the experience of eating the tuna was exactly the same as eating the Oreo, or the Payday.... there really was no difference in the experience of eating.

O my gosh! Since the experience was exactly the same it made no sense to crave one over the other and put my body at risk at the same time. If it does not matter, why don't I just eat the good stuff and help me be and do what I'd like to be and do? That is a question to ponder, too.

I kept thinking about that and then remembered that there have been times in my life when I've dreaded doing something and procrastinated putting my hand to it. Then later, when I finally did do it, I discovered that it was not nearly so bad as I had expected and I usually felt a sense of accomplishment when I had gotten the job done.

I put these two together and realized that the experience of doing something is not the thinking about it beforehand. You can look forward, or crave, or dread something and all of that is just thinking, or imagination. None of the before thinking really has anything at all to do with the doing... or the actual experience of it.

That has been sticking in my thinking and has made making better choices a whole lot easier. Wow.

Then this scripture came to mind:
James 4:13  Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”;  whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow....

It is like that. No matter what my plans are, or what I anticipate, or desire, or dread.... thinking is not outcome. We do not know what will happen tomorrow or in the next instant. I get a sense of freedom from this. It does not really matter what I think will or won't happen.... or what I desire or dread... my thinking has nothing to do with the reality or experience.

Imagination is not experience or doing. It is simply thinking. No need to stop imagining but to begin to recognize it for what it is and call the shots or make decisions based on truth and not feeling.

Choosing to eat healthy and realize that cravings are deceitful lusts that I no longer need to conform to is very freeing. Unbridled lust can be bridled once you realize what it is: deceitful.

Thank you Lord!!

Be back soon,

Marcia