"Do Not Lust"--Authority

Do Not Lust Meditation Commentary

“And if thy right hand offend thee, pluck it out, and cast if from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut if off, and cast if from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” —Matthew 5:29-30

“Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness , faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart .”—II Timothy 2:22

            Often we think our thoughts are our own territory for us to rule over.  After all, if there is one place that is private and personal enough for us to own, it has to be our own thoughts that go through our own minds, right?  Is it actually possible, however, to infringe on someone else simply by the way we think?

            Obviously, Christians understand that their thoughts must bow before God, and must completely submit to Him as Lord.  If God commands His people to think a certain way, and avoid other thoughts, the nature of a servant under the authority of his master demands that God’s people obey Him even in the area of thoughts.  However, in the specific command God gives not to lust, there is another area of authority that is infringed upon.  When a person lusts, he or she actually steps out of the bounds of his or her own authority and takes authority that he or she has no right to.

            It is interesting that the tenth commandment denies the right a person has to covet.  Many of the Ten Commandments are fairly concrete and it is clear why the commands not to steal, murder, commit adultery, etc., are given in that those actions hurt other people.   In the tenth commandment, however, God goes straight to the root and attacks the mindset and mentality that could bring a great amount of harm.  Covetousness involves desiring things you have no right to or authority over.  Concupiscence, an obscure King James Biblical word used in Colossians 3:5, is used to describe a longing or desire for what is forbidden.  Clearly lust falls under the category of covetousness and concupiscence.

The Bible has an interesting concept in 1 Corinthians 7:3-4.  “Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.”  Each spouse has power or authority over the other’s body.  Until marriage that person’s body does not belong to you, and when you desire it and undress a girl or disrespect her mentally, you are acting as if her body is yours to derive pleasure from, when that is not the case.  Lust crosses the boundaries of your own authority and tries to rob Christ of His, since all our bodies are supposed to belong to Him anyway (1 Cor. 6:20).