Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the Eyes, Pride of Life.

I have recently finished a study about the first woman on this earth, and that is Eve.
Eve was created to share life with Adam. Genesis 2:20-24
God gave away the first bride and he blessed their union.

Before God created Eve there was only Adam. God commanded Adam not eat of the
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Genesis 2:15-17. After Eve was created she was made
aware of the rules that God had concerning the trees in the Garden.
As we continue to read Genesis we see that an unwelcomed visitor slithers into the Garden and he
was very crafty.Genesis 3:1 Not only is he known as the Serpent, we refer to him as Satan.

Satan used two major lines to appeal to Eve:
1.) He convinced her she could escape the consequences of disobedience. This was his most powerful weapon and he is still using it today.

Eve explains the commandment God gave them in Genesis 3:2-3, but she adds to God's command by saying that God said they could not even touch it. Eve did what alot of people do today and that is she added to God's word. Satan did not try to argue with Eve about what God had spoken, rather he convinced her the consequences of sin would not come and that she would become like God. Genesis 3:4-5. ,
What Satan did to Eve is still going on today. He is always convincing us there is no punshiment for our disobedience and then he convinces us will can be rewarded for our disobedience.
In our society today our children ssem to be lacking in being taught that there are consequences for disobeying or breaking the rules. We need to teach our children at an early age that negative actions will produce negative consequences. If we as adults learn to obey God's commands then we are able to set an example for our children. 
Satan's arguement to Eve was as follows: Eve could enjoy the pleasures of sin and
still escape the consequences.

2.) Satan offered Eve every type of inducement. Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the Eyes and Pride of Life.
We can look at it this way:
Eve listened to the devil (Gen. 3:4)
Desired forbidden fruit (Gen 3:6)
Eve Sinned Gen. (3:6)
Eve caused her husband to sin (Gen 3:6)
Attempted to blame her sin on another (Gen. 3:13)

Satan still causes us to disobey God by using Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the Eyes and Pride of Life.
We can read about this in the New Testament. 1 John 2: 15-17

The word LUST is defined as "Desire for what is forbidden; an obsessive craving." Lust as
used in   1 John 2:15-17  refers to the desire for things that are contrary to the will of God. Lust is NOT simply desire, it is illicit, unlawful or forbidden desire.

What is Lust of the Flesh:
The "lust of the flesh" often refers things our flesh desires. These can come in the
form of unlawful sexual desire, that which would lead to fornication, as is illustrated in the
 following verses:  Romans 1:27   Gal. 5:16

Lust of the Flesh can come other forms such as drunkedness, selfish ambition ,desire for material possessions, etc.    Galatians 5:17-20  Romans 13:14
When we give in to Lust of the Flesh we are no longer controlling our thoughts or our body. We let 
the "sinful desires" tell us what to do.

What is Lust of the Eyes:
The "lust of the eyes" obviously refers to what is seen, or what we want to see. The eyes enjoy things of beauty, or riches, and when we lust after those things it is the lust of the eyes. Our eyes love to look at "things" and "people". The problem is what we are looking at and how it causes us to react.
Eve saw that the fruit of the tree was pleasing to the eye, in other words.."It looked delicious and she wanted it".Genesis 3:6

Our eyes see things that can cause us to sin.
 2 Samuel 11: 2  Exodus 20:17
Everyday our eyes are  bombarded with various images from real-life, videos, pictures etc. What we choose to do with what we see is our decision. We also have a choice to turn away from the things that cause us to have "Lust of the Eyes". 1 Cor.10:13
A few years ago I developed a rule that I live by concerning the "Lust of the Eyes". Whether it be a song I am listening to, a movie I am thinking about watching or a magazine I may want to look at, I will ask myself first "Would I watch this or look at this if Jesus was sitting next to me".  (Because in reality Jesus is always right there with me).
Lust of the Eyes can take in alot of things, for example...Lusting after my neighbor's sleek, silver convertible mustang. Imagining how "good" I would look sitting in it. Or listening to music on my cd player while I stare at my daughter's Ipod which has the ability to hold over 3,000 songs. Looking at the house I live in and not being satisfied because I "looked" at other houses and compared them to the one I live in.
Like I said "Lust of the Eyes" takes in alot of ground.

Pride of Life:
When I see the term "Pride of Life" what I actually see is a life with a complete lack of humility.
The Pride of Life can mean anything that leads to arrogance, pride in self, presumption and boasting.
A "Look at me" attitude or "Look what I did" attitude is one way of understanding  "Pride of Life".
Eve displayed a Pride of Life in that she saw that the fruit was "good for food", "pleasing to the eye" and
"desirable for gaining wisdom". Genesis 3:6
SAtan told Eve she would not die but be like God. This is where Eve looses the triat of humility. She now has the thought in her head that she can be like God and know everything. That desire for the power of knowledge lead her to being arrogant. She wants this fuit because she wants this knowledge. She now is only concerned with self.
We can see "Pride of Life" thru God's word by looking at people like Cain who was too proud to admit his offering to God was not his best, instead of admitting this he kills his bother whose offering pleased God. Genesis 4:4-9
Moses who disobeyed God and hit the rock in the desert for water to come forth, he decided to do it his way and not God's. Numbers 20.
In the New Testament we see "Pride of Life" in Satan tempting Jesus. He is offering him all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would worship him, he is telling jesus  "I can give you all of this"...in other words.."Look what I can Do". Luke 4:5-7

Eve experienced:
Lust of the Eyes
Lust of the Flesh
Pride of Life

These three actions are always connected. Satan approaches every human who is living on this planet to cause them to experience Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the Eyes and Pride of Life.  He is also always telling us that there are no consequences for our disobedience.
As a Christian it is my responsiblility to sit down, study God's word and know what I am up against.
To know God's commands for my daily living and to obey him in all things.
We are no different than Eve. God tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 he will not let us be tempted above what we can bear and he provides a way out of that temptation. The best way to avoid temptation is to be in constant contact with our Lord, always keeping the lines of communication open and studying God's word to keep in it our hearts that we might not sin against God. 2 Timothy 2:15 Pslams 119:11  Luke 18:1  Ephesians 6:18   Philipians 4:6  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

In studying about various women in the Bible, I find I am constantly learning from these woman very important lessons that help me to grow in my walk with God.
I pray that something I share with be beneficial to somene else. I want to be a Virtuous Woman in the Eyes of God.

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

Hear the Word of God: Romans 10:17    Acts 4:4

Faith:Hebrews 11:6    Acts 16:31

Repentance:Luke 13:3    Acts 17:30

Confession: Matthew 10:32   Acts 8:37

Baptism: 1 Peter 3:21  Acts 2:38
Live Faithfully:Revelation 2:10  Acts 14:22

A Basketful of Grudges

I love straw baskets. They come in every shape and size. I have baskets all over my house. Some contain books, others magazines and one is full of yarn. I love to take a basket to the beach and collect seashells.
I also love to take a basket outside when the flowers are in bloom and collect various flowers which will be used as a beautiful table display in my house.
There is one basket (I am ashamed to say )  I carried around that was full of grudges. I didn't realize until recently that I was carrying this basket. For years I have been carrying this basket, unaware, that one day I picked it up and never sat it down. As I look back over the years I now know why I was tired at the end of everyday. I was tired from carrying this heavy basket ful of "Unforgiveness, Grudges and Hate". 

My reason for never sitting it down, well, if I sat it down that meant I had to forgive and forget the person that wronged me. Wow, that is a hard thing to do. No matter how much we love someone when they offend us it is so hard to say "I forgive you" and never think of it again. We are human.

But, If we are truly serving God this task is easier to handle. God tells us in  Hebrews 8:12 (NIV)¹² For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

If our almighty and powerful God can forgive our sins, then we should be able to live by his example and forgive others. I will admit  that I decided 5 years ago when a very dear friend of mine destroyed the trust shared between us that I was never going to forgive or forget. My reason, if I didn't forgive or forget then I would always be on my guard and it would never happen again. Guess what,my plan backfired.

Everyday I carried around my basket full of the unforgivenss that I had toward my dear friend. Everyday I looked at it. Everyday my disgust toward my friend grew and grew.
Was this hurting our relationship? You bet!!  
It was destroying it , chipping away daily at the love we shared, the years of wonderful memories, the bond I thought could never be broken.

Until one day our friendship was over..........

Did I want it to end??? NO.
Was I saddened our friendship ended? Extremely

I realized I was the one who destroyed our friendship.
 Devastated , I turned to God's word for help. I needed help to fix this realtionship.
I opened God's word to Matthew 18: 21-35 and read The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant.
I was forgiven over and over thru my life by different individuals but I gave no forgiveness.
I WAS THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT. What a slap in the face!!

I went to my dear friend, got down on my knees and begged for forgiveness. As I sat there on my knees ,with my head bowed and crying, I waited.....Would I be forgiven?? Did I deserve forgiveness?

The tables now turned I waited to hear those words.."You are forgiven"...

Time seem to stand still as I waited. . In the softest voice my friend said to me, "I forgive you". Just thinking of that moment as I write this brings me to tears. The shame I felt was overwhleming,  the regret of all the years we lost enjoying our friendship, the piercing thought of how I refused to forgive, but yet was freely forgiven without a second thought.
My thoughts immediatley focused on my God.
God loves us and he was willing to send his son to die for our transgressions. As Jesus hung on the cross he said to his Heavenly Father, "“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”^[a] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. Luke 23:34
 
God tells us that we are to forgive somone seventy times seven. We read this in Matthew 18: 21, 22, :(American Standard Version)
  ²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
  ²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven".
This experience with my dear sweet friend has brought me to my knees with my Lord, asking him for forgivess. I have made a complete circle. 
Now when somone hurts me or mistreats me in any manner I immediately think back to my Lord hanging on that cross, carrying "My" sins but still having a heart full of forgiveness.  I have replaced my basket which was full of unforgivenss with love and understanding.   At the end of the day I am not tired from carrying this basket but feel refreshed .
If you are carrying around a basket filled with unforgiveness, I urge you to get rid of it. Carry around something that will bless your life, not destroy it.