Lust harms our body, mind and spirit. Specifically, lust:

  • Leads us to dishonor our bodies (which are made in God’s image): (Romans 1:24) Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them.
  • Burns like an increasing fire: (Isaiah 57:5 NIV) You burn with lust among the oaks and under every spreading tree; you sacrifice your children in the ravines and under the overhanging crags.
  • Consumes God’s blessings in our lives: (Job 31:12) It is a fire that burns to Destruction; it would have uprooted my harvest.
  • Enslaves us to sin: (Romans 6:12) Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts
  • Angers and grieves God: (Ephesians 2:3) Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (see also Ezekiel 6:9 , 1 Thessalonians 4:4-6)
  • Separates us from God: (Ephesians 4:18 NIV) They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
  • Corrupts us by deceit: (Ephesians 4:22) that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit (see also Titus 3:3 & 2 Peter 1:4)
  • Causes ruin and destruction: (1 Timothy 6:9) But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.
  • Drains our vitality/energy for life: (Proverbs 6:26 NKJV)  For by means of a harlot a man is reduced to a crust of bread; And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.
  • Wars against our souls: (1 Peter 2:11 NKJV) Living before the world beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul
  • Causes self-hatred: (Ezekiel 6:9 NIV) They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices.
  • Fills the body with darkness: (Matthew 6:22-23 NKJV) The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
  • Blocks God’s love from working through us: (1 John 2:15-17 NKJV) “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world–the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life–is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever”
  • Destroys our sensitivity to God: (Ephesians 4:19 NIV) Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
  • Hardens our spiritual heart: (Ephesians 4:18 NIV) They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

Bible passages concerning lust
There are many passages in scripture dealing with lust.  We can gain great insight about lust and how to deal with it from these passages.

Proverbs 6:23-26 NKJV
For the commandment is a lamp, And the law a light; Reproofs of instruction are the way of life, To keep you from the evil woman, From the flattering tongue of a seductress. Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, Nor let her allure you with her eyelids. For by means of a harlot a man is reduced to a crust of bread; And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.

Insights from this passage:

  • Flattery can lead to lust in the heart
  • Beware of enticement through the eyes
  • Lust opens door for consumption of one’s life by evil

Job 31:1-12 NIV
I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. For what is man’s lot from God above, his heritage from the Almighty on high? Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong? Does he not see my ways and count my every step? “If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit– let God weigh me in honest scales and he will know that I am blameless–if my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled, then may others eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted. “If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door, then may my wife grind another man’s grain, and may other men sleep with her. For that would have been shameful, a sin to be judged. It is a fire that burns to Destruction; it would have uprooted my harvest.

Insights from this passage:

  • It is shameful and sinful to allow the heart to be led with the eyes into lust
  • It is shameful and sinful to entice another person to sin
  • Lust will destroy the harvest of good things that a righteous man has

Ephesians 4:18-20 NIV
“They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.

Insights from this passage:

  • Lust hardens out spiritual heart, producing ignorance and separation from the life God has for us
  • Lust destroys our sensitivity to God, plunging us into sensuality of every kind of impurity
  • Lust is never satisfied. It continually lusts for more

Proverbs 5:3-5 NKJV
“For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil; But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, Her steps lay hold of hell.”

Insights from this passage:

  • Feeding lust is like eating rat poison wrapped in chocolate. It tastes good, but kills you.
  • You find out after feeding lust that you believed a lie and forfeited the good things of God for your own destruction. It gives bitterness a foothold in your life.

Bible stories dealing with lust: In addition to the Bible’s teachings on lust, there are several stories involving lust and its consequences.