Lust is everywhere, like an unstoppable fire that burns within the hearts and minds of most every American.  Everywhere we turn, the free market of our country begs the indulgence of our physical bodies.  Nobody markets for the soul, because marketing for the body is much more profitable! 

I John 2:16 tells us: “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”  All Christians would agree that living a life based upon lust is absolutely contrary to the message of the Gospel, and most good Christians spend their lives mastering their physical appetites, or do they?

The question that I’d like you to ponder before you worship this weekend is this:  Do I love God, or do I lust after Him?  This may sound a bit absurd or even impossible, but think about what lust is.  Lust is, at its basest form, a powerful desire for satisfaction that ignores the needs or desires of those that are fulfilling it.  Lust drives men to look at internet pornography. Lust drives women to read trashy romance novels.  Lust drives all of us to have more doughnuts than we need.  And for many of us, lust drives our relationship to God. 

Do we simply love how God makes us feel, or do we love Him?  Love, according to I Corinithians 13, does not seek its own fulfillment.  If we are looking to God to do good things for us, or give us a little “Jesus-buzz” at worship time, then we are not loving Him; we are lusting after Him.  Worship is supposed to be about God, not me, and if I expect to get something from worship, then my focus in on my fleshly desires for pleasure, and I’m not really loving God. 

Likewise, if I’m leading worship based upon what the congregation will like to hear, then in one sense, I am no better than the pornographer, catering to the physical appetites of lonely men.  Worship is about expressing our outward love in celebration of God, and if we throw our emotions into the mix, and seek to gratify them in some way, we have accepted a poor substitute for I Corinthians 13 love. 

So, do you love God, or do you lust after Him?

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