Can't Take My Eyes Off You

Two Fridays ago, IBF hosted an ACHOC (Asian Chicks Humbly Obeying Christ) seminar on lust and purity with the theme "Can't take my eyes off you". It was a good solid discussion with other sisters on what lust means, what the Bible says about it, and how we are dealing with the issue at hand.

By the end of the night, we unanimously agreed that lust does not equal sexual desire (which can be something good seeing that it is God-given). Rather, lust is the act or thought of seeking to entertain or fulfill sexual desire outside the context of marriage. Various Bible passages including (but not limited to) Matthew 5:27-30, Romans 1:18-25, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, Colossians 3:1-6, Ephesians 4:17-24 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-20 tell us that lusting is similar to committing adultery. It is a sinful nature that does not bring glory to God subsequent to rejecting God. Such a sin is a form of idolatry that causes the wrath of God and is punishable as those who sin against their own body will not inherit the Kingdom of God. The body is meant for the Lord as it is a member of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit within. We are not our own but have been bought with Christ's blood and as such, we are to glorify God in our body. Titus 2:11 motivates us further by saying that the grace of God teaches us to say no to ungodliness. Some of the measures we can take to help us not to satisfy lust is through God's Word and prayer, reading good Christian books on the topic, having an accountability partner (such as using programmes like the freely available Covenant Eyes), not putting ourself in a position that makes us vulnerable to the temptation of lust, bouncing our thoughts and reflection on our weak areas.

We also discussed on the general differences between men and women in terms of sexual desire. Here are some key points on the comparisons we made:

Men
- Sexual initiator
- Stimulated visually
- Excited to pursue
- Sexual desire is often more physical

Women
- Sexual responder
- Stimulated by touch
- Excited to be pursued
- Sexual desire if often rooted in emotional longings

We then discussed some of the ways we may be tempted to lust as women, what our brothers-in-Christ can do to help us not to lust, as well as what we can do as sisters in return to help our brothers and not cause them to stumble. We later convened in a different room with the brothers who had their AH-BENG (Asian Hunks Being Evangelical N Godly) seminar on the same topic and shared the things we have talked about as well as those last three points discussed above.

So dear brothers and sisters, let us help one another as we work on our godliness not to cause others to stumble nor be stumbled ourselves but always to reflect on Christ and follow His ways...