Youthful Lust

 The phrase “Youthful Lusts” means different things to different people and it encompasses different areas. A simple definition of the term is an unusually intense, unbridled desire or craving for something which often occurs among people who are young and not yet mature. Youthful lusts do not only border on sexual desires or impure thoughts or ideas but also in the lust for money and the intense desire for power,fame and recognition. 

 Sexual desires are common among youths of today because we cannot help being attracted to someone but when we begin to fill our hearts with immoral thoughts about the person (most often one of the opposite sex) we are attracted to, allowing these lustful thoughts and ideas to take up space in our hearts, it is sin. It is also a known fact that most times, the spirit is willing to ignore these lusts but the flesh is often weak. Win the battle of sex and you win the battle of life.

 Like the common eye defect, myopia, most relationships these days lack foresight and intellectual insight. While some are baseless, most of them don’t have defined goals that guide the conducts of both parties involved. It is a great disdain and a slap on the face to see young people of opposite sex –“love birds” who carry themselves around without intentions for marriage. Why date a guy when you know you wouldn’t end up as a family? Why give your all to someone you don’t plan to spend the rest of your life with? Why waste your time and feelings?

 Love is a complicated thing with teenagers and young adults, and there are many emotions that they experience with their first love. The first time they fall in love is a special time in their lives, and the emotions they feel can stay with them for a lifetime. It is also a confusing time in their lives and they will be faced with many situations that go along with being ‘in love’.

 One of the biggest fears they may encounter with their first love is fear of being rejected. Many teens may feel that if their first love leaves them, then nobody else may ever want them. This may causes them to feel pressured to do things they may not normally do, like have sex. They may feel that they will lose the person they care about if they don’t do things to prove they love their partner.

 The Bible preaches against sexual immorality as it is a great sin against one’s own body. 1st Corinthians 6:18 says, “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body”. Sexual immorality is one of the greatest because the body is the temple of the Most High God and he who defiles the body defiles God’s temple, thus, it can’t host God’s presence. In the Book of Proverbs, the Bible speaks against strange or foreign flesh. Outside of marriage, when a young ‘couple’ engage in premarital sex, they are fornicating. They could have done that out of peer pressure to satisfy their cravings, but once it is done, it can’t be undone. No matter the degree of temptation or the threat by people around, premarital sex is not worth it. 

 Joseph was a young man in the Scriptures. He was sold to slavery by his brothers and ended up in Potiphar’s house as a servant. His master, Potiphar made him in charge of everything in the house save his wife. Along the line, Potiphar’s wife came to him and instructed him to lay with her while her husband was away, but Joseph resisted her and said, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” She did not relent, but persisted day by day and eventually caught him by his garment a day no one was within the house saying, “Lie with me”. Joseph took a bold step and fled from her presence leaving his shirt behind. He preferred to face any punishment than commit fornication. (Genesis 39: 7-20).

 Many young people these days are often lured to involve in premarital sex. They can be bribed with luxuries of the world and material possessions, but it takes a brave person to turn such offers down. Young people, keep yourself pure. If you engage in premarital sex, it would always affect the marriage that God wants you to fully enjoy right through life. He has a plan for your life. He has a great plan for your marriage-something special, beautiful and long lasting. 

 The kind of company a man keeps affects his behavior and reaction to things around. If one has friends who value illicit practices, the friends would affect his/her decision. The Bible makes it crystal clear that evil communication corrupts good manners. One should be conscious of who he goes to for help and advice. 

In 2nd Samuel Chapter 13, Ammon, the son of David loved his sister, Tamar that he became sick because of her. Ammon met his friend, Jonadab for counsel on how to deal with the matter and Jonadab adviced him to pretend to be sick and request to be treated by only Tamar, and he heeded to the advice. When Tamar went to his chamber with food to attend to him, he told her to lay with him, but she resisted. Ammon, being stronger than her forced her and raped her. The Bible verse 15 of the chapter tells us that when the deed was done, he hated her exceedingly that the hatred he had for her was greater than the love he had for her. Once a young fellow engages in premarital sex, he defiles himself, his value reduces and he often becomes stigmatized.

 Ladies, your virginity does not belong to your husband. You do not owe any man anything. This is a result of the traditional obsession with marriage (idolatry). We are sexually pure because God demands that from us. The Bible never said you should be pure for anyone other than God. This is why God does not need to restore a person’s virginity because once he has forgiven you, that’s all that matters.

 Lust originates from the heart and it is a very deadly sin. There are three dangerous sins that can lead to the downfall of man- lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life. (James 4:1-7). The Bible says in the book of 1 John 2:16 that “For all that is in the world, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the father but is of the world”. This simply means that no matter how we look at it, youthful lusts are of the world.

 Lust of the flesh is the temptation to feel physical pleasure from sinful activities, that is, to do something that would make the flesh feel satisfied. Remember, the flesh is not part of us, it is temporal and would not spend eternity with us, yet it wants to drag us to hell. The devil lures us often to commit indecent acts that would arouse the flesh. Examples of the ‘lust of the flesh’ includes sexual sins, gossip/rumour mongering, drug abuse, physical abuse, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, hatred, sedition, drunkenness, envy and the likes. Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:16 admonishes Christians to “Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh”.

 Lust of the eyes is that temptation to look upon things we shouldn’t behold and to have things we should not have. The sin of coveting is an example of the result of succumbing to the lust of the eyes. To covet means to have a yearning or strong desire to have something that rightfully belongs to someone else. It can be in form of desiring others’ status, possession or appearance. A core example in the Bible of someone who had lust of the eyes was King David. In 2nd Samuel chapter 11, he saw another man’s wife, Bathsheba bathing on the roof top and he desired to be with her. We can recall that David was already a married man and the king of Israel. He however, sent messengers to fetch her and afterwards lay with her and bore a child with her. In order to cover up the sin, he ordered that Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba be set in the forefront of the battle ground and be killed. The lust of the eyes in his case led to evil imagination which birthed adultery and later murder. People often go out of their way to get what they desire especially when the desire is not of God. 

 Another case study of someone who had lust of the eyes in the Bible is Gehazi, the servant of Elisha. In 2nd Kings Chapter 5, Naaman a leper from Syria visited Elisha so as to be free from leprosy. After he had been told to wash himself in Jordan River seven times, he obeyed and was made whole. Out of gratitude, he brought gifts for Elisha, the prophets which were not received. Gehazi went after Naaman and lied against his master so as to acquire the gifts Naaman brought. His act of greed brought a curse to him and his generation- the leprosy of Naaman cleaved on him and his generation. His greed also made him forfeit double portion of Elisha’s anointing.

 "Wealth is like seawater: the more you drink, the thirstier you become”, (Arthur Schopenhauer). Contentment is a virtue a child of God should embrace in order to fight the lust of the eyes and lust of flesh. Contentment is intense satisfaction with whatever one has no matter how little it is. It is a virtue that money cannot buy. 1st Timothy 6:6-12 says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many grieves. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 

 Pride of life is the temptation and desire for excess greatness or power that we often strive to attain at all cost. It is a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity. It is also the feeling of someone that he is better or more important than others. Pride is one of the sins God hates the most. (Proverbs 6:16-17). It can come in the desire to get credit for things that others or God did, desire for others to worship us or hold us in excess esteem (like in the case of King Saul) or the desire to feel valued or more important than others around us. Proud people prefer self -will to God’s will. An example of a proud person in the Bible is Angel Lucifer. He became impressed with his beauty, intelligence, power and position that he began to desire for himself the honour and glory that belonged to God alone. As a result of the pride and sin against God, he was cast out of heaven to hell and his name changed from Lucifer (which means morning star) to Satan (which means adversary). (Isaiah 14).  James 4:6 tells us that God resists the proud and giveth grace to the humble. In order words, pride comes before a fall. 

 The solution to youthful lusts can be found in 2 Tim. 2:22 – “Flee also youthful lusts but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord our of a pure heart”. One cannot resist temptations from the devil and successfully combat lust without the help of God. We have to let Him know we cannot do anything on our own. Run to God and heed to His instructions: Don't make plans on how to resist the devil and expect God to bless such plans. He is our only help and not our friends.