la la land

I think a huge problem we have is that many people, especially Christians, have confused normal biological sexual attraction with lust/sin. God created you to desire another person for affection, intimacy, and attraction! Being attracted to someone is NOT lust. Lust is the dehumanizing of another person in your own heart. It is a ritual taking, obsessing, and using someone else for your own benefit rather than valuing that person as an equal image-bearer of God. Lust can certainly have a sexual component, but when we reduce it merely to sexual reactions, we miss out on God’s bigger heart for all people: infinite value. 

When Jesus said “if you even look at a woman with lust…” he wasn’t downplaying a physical sexual response, he was lifting up the value of women and men! Lust has nothing to do with modesty. Dressing modestly will NEVER remove lust from the heart of another person. Only Jesus can do that through the working of the Holy Spirit in each individual. You can’t change anyone and you’re only responsible for taking your own heart to Jesus for him to deal with. Talk to Jesus about your own lust, talk to a trusted mentor about how to distinguish practices of lust from good sexual attraction, and talk to other men and women about positive boundaries for living fully in Christ’s freedom! 

Thank you so much, Hugo, for reminding me that I don’t have to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders. Jesus did that. So I get to dress for fun, for comfort, for beauty, and for life!!

- @emelina  in response to Your Body Is Never The Problem