Lusts of Flesh or Will of God?

so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 

1 Peter 4:2

Sir Winston Churchill had an amazing career as an English politician, Prime Minister and world leader – he is consistently listed by historians as one of the top 2 or 3 most important people of the 20th century. But reading his biography, we get an idea of his motivation: why he did what he did. From the time he was a child, Winston Churchill wanted to be a “great person.” He wanted to be a famous politician. He wanted to be remembered. So he went off to war, and put himself in positions of great danger, specifically for the purpose of “getting medals,” which would enable him to win a political office when he got back, and which would thrust him into public life.

In the verse we have taken for meditation today Peter shows us two different motivations that people have in life; two different purposes that they can live for: “the lusts of men”, or “the will of God.” We are either living for one or the other.

What Peter generally calls “the lusts of men” John specifically identifies as “the lusts of the flesh; the lusts of the eyes; and the boastful pride of life.” They are the things that please our bodies or our senses (what “feels” good to us); what pleases our eyes, or are “attractive” to us; or what pleases our pride, and makes us “feel good about ourselves.” These are the lusts of the world; what Peter calls “the lusts of men.”

So the question is: what are we living for? Are we living for those things: that make us feel good; or that look good to us; or that makes us feel good about ourselves; or are we living for God and His kingdom? We may want to say we’re living for God, but are we?

Let us just think for a moment how it plays out in the specific, daily decisions that you make:

Do you think: I want to eat or drink this, because it will feel good for me?

Or do you think how what you eat or drink will affect the glory of God, and the work of the Kingdom of God in other people?

Do you think: what do I want to do with “my time”?

Or do you think: what does God want me to accomplish for His kingdom with the time He gave me?

Do you think: what do I want to do with “my” money? Or do you think: for what kingdom purpose did God entrust me with the resources He gave me, as a steward?

In every area of our life, do we do what makes us “feel good”?

Or do you do what you know God wants you to do?

What I know God wants me to do is often not what I “feel” like doing. So if I am going to do God’s will, it is often the exact opposite of what I “feel” like. But one of the marks of a real Christian person is that we aren’t living for the desires of the flesh; we are living to do GOD’s will; not what we want to do.

Dear friends, Life for the Christian is divided into two parts: the time before conversion, and the time after conversion.  Time before conversion is often spent gratifying our own desires. The time after conversion should be spent seeking and obeying God’s will. We are to be ruled by God’s will, not human passions. Instead of living in order to fulfill our petty desires and lusts, we live with a higher purpose -- to live the rest of our earthly lives ... for the will of God." That is God's desire for us, his plan for us, to learn to pattern our lives and our lifestyles after his will. It is not boring and old fashioned, but a challenge, an adventure, and the only way our lives can really be fulfilled.

This Lenten Season let us be a clean, dedicated vessel available for His service whenever He chooses to use us. And Lord, let that which comes through me come with a purity of message that marks it as from God.

God Bless You