How are Lust and Sexual Passion Different?
by David River
Love Prescription (Rx) #39
I was asked how lust and sexual passion are different. I thought it would be a good idea to post this answer separately for all to read.
I am not against sexual passion when contained in a God given marriage and free from lust. In fact, I am highly in favor of it. God created passion in the first place, just as God created sexual intercourse and pleasure. If God is not a passionate being then why did He give us the imagery of sex between a man and a woman? I mean, who do you think thought up sex and procreation in the first place? Through the act of sexual intercourse God was attempting to reveal to us something about Himself, namely that He is very passionate and intimate. After all, the Bible does define God as: LOVE.
Sexual passion with your spouse is a gift from God and He gives us guidelines in His word to protect Godly passion, not steal it. God's rule book isn't given to steal our joy and pleasure, it's given to increase our joy and pleasure.
Jesus said, "I have come that they might have life and life much more abundantly." Does "more abundantly" sound like someone trying to keep you from joy and fullness of life? On the other hand, the Bible says that the Devil has come to steal, kill and destroy. The Bible calls the Devil a murderer, a liar, and a thief. Satan hates God and all whom God loves and his desire is to rob us of the abundant life that can only be found by obeying Jesus Christ.
So when we do things God's way, our joy increases and we find life, but when we disobey or ignore His "rules" we only find pain, addictions and death. So to think that God is against proper sexual passion would be ludicrous.
There are two types of passion: Ungodly passion such as lust, and godly passion such as love. Many of us distort passion and use it improperly in ways and in relationships which God never intended. Passion when used sinfully is called lust. Passion used like this never satisfies. It leaves one empty and needing even more to satisfy the next fix. Passion used improperly leads to addictions of all kinds. This kind of passion ultimately leads to death.
Then there is godly passion. Passion channeled properly and confined within God given constraints of a marriage relationship, free from all fear, free from all addictions. Godly passion is a pure source of joy and pleasure designed by God to draw a husband more intimately to the heart, mind and body of his beloved wife. Godly passion when shared in this fashion is a source of the greatest level of intimacy that two soul mates could possibly share.