pinkish-purple illustration of a horseman holding out a carrot in front of the horse
Illustration by Boardman Robinson 1916 United States Library of Congress
Lust, Desire, and the Truth title

You’ve Been Strung Along for Way Too Long

By Nick Taliaferro
There is desire, and there is lust... intro text
Desire is a compelling, emotional drive to secure an obtainable thing that compels one to stretch, just beyond a comfortable reach. And while we typically associate desire with sensual craving, it can also apply to a job or some activity, or some other thing. So, truly, any time we pursue, achieve or acquire, we must yield ourselves to desire.

Lust, likewise is also characterized by a compelling drive to secure something just beyond reach. Lust, however, pursues an object that cannot quite be secured. Lust promises a certain gratification; and while simply engaging in the pursuit of the thing lusted after may offer pleasure, somehow lust never quite delivers. In short, lust lies by making promises it cannot keep.

Lust invites us to direct our desires towards wholly unobtainable things, ever feeding us on the illusion of a fulfillment that never arrives—because it cannot arrive.

Lust in Eden
The idea of lust is to use desire to spur us into action and then to string the soul out on an unending quest to achieve an impossible goal. Addicted to the thrill of the chase, some simply acclimate to the intensity of the yearning and longing, even as they slowly march deeper into pits of despair and disillusionment.

We see it in Eden. Beautiful things are all around, and the heart and soul brim with desire because God’s creation honors every sensual faculty with which the first pair is endowed. Alas, one tree illicitly invites them. While all the trees share equally in allure, this one tree heightens the desire because of a whispered promise:

Eat the fruit of this tree and you will receive Divine prerogatives and power – “ye shall be as Gods!”

That was an undeliverable promise because, after all, the tree is forbidden (with good reason). But the promise made offers a compelling appeal for a pursuit, and that tree becomes the first lusted after thing in all creation. A few juicy bites later, both Adam and Eve were fully committed to pursue the unreachable, to try to possess the unobtainable.

They were promised that the reward would be great, thrilling even; but it was all a bright, shining lie.

Lust’s Rotten Core
We tend to conflate lust with illicit sexuality. As we see here, however, it may have nothing to do with sex. In this case lust was all about fruit! The evil of lust is not found in the “thing” being sought nor in the activity embarked upon in pursuit of that thing.

The evil of lust comes from cherishing a self-centered notion that I have entitlements that I am being unjustly denied, and I must have them—even though they are not mine to have!

Desire, on the other hand, when mature and rightly maintained, is a holy thing. It actually seems designed to help us transcend the prison of feeble complacency. It lifts us beyond the tyranny of our own narrow self-absorbed concerns. In doing so, desire allows us to move closer to the God who is indeed self-identified as “The Desire of all nations” (Hag 2:7), and we may learn what it means to live beyond fear and self-seeking.

We’re talking about desire rightly maintained and cultivated. Desire allows us to be fueled by passions that help us to connect with others, even to the point of sacrifice, and it ushers us to the edges of ecstasy as we learn how to yield the “I” in favor of the “We.”

The Check on Our Unbridled Lusts
Indeed, ultimately God seeks to develop us to where He can safely bestow upon us the “desire of (our) hearts.”

Now, this is where it gets tricky.

When Lust steps in, it intrigues and offers Desire a new mission. It asks Desire to go off on some ill-advised quest for something not only beyond reach but absolutely unobtainable.

Desire can be a good thing when it is directed towards subjects/objects that lift us through their attainment and achievement (think education, or a loving companion). But at the behest of Lust, Desire becomes unmoored and goes to seed, then goes astray like an untethered dog; finally victimizing its host by seducing him/her into a state of unquenchable longing.

The only antidote for lust is truth.
Truth offers freedom. When I embrace the truth that something I long for, and feel compelled to chase, is actually undeliverable, I am set free from the chains of my longing.

When I learn that the euphoria that I am pursuing in that powder or that pill will not bring me peace, the power of lust is broken. When the truth reveals that the million-dollar home will not make me feel secure, nor will the pleasure of a tryst with some agent of beauty banish my flagging sense of self, then I can be free!

“You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32).

Within the framework of that truth, I learn what I actually can possess, what pursuits may actually yield obtainable ends. Desire may then lead me forward; and although every desired thing may not be realized, the pursuit and the journey are legitimate and real. I learn to accept that the journey is as meaningful as the destination; the struggle as meaningful as the goal achieved. Like the Apostle Paul, I can say, “I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do… I press toward the goal” (Phillippians. 3:13, 14, NKJV).

But only Truth can free me to live unfettered by vain and fruitless questing for unobtainable things. Only Truth can inform me of what is actually mine to have, what pursuits may actually belong to me. Only Truth can be the compass for my God-given desire, that will serve to lift me above fear and brokenness, allowing me to transcend those things in favor of that which I am favored to possess.

Otherwise, I will find myself being seduced by the siren songs of lust, promising unimaginable things—that seem to always lie just around the bend and over that next hill.

Nick Taliaferro is a radio host for WURD in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Back to Issue