Lusting Will Cause You to Turn Your Eyes Away From God

Verses: Susanna 1 : 1 - 14

My thoughts about the verses:

The first thing that we must learn is that the four people in this story all knew the law.  They had been taught how to live within the law.  They knew the consequences from turning away from God.  The Judges knew most certainly what the law was and they had brought judgements against others that had disobeyed the law.  Susanna knew the law because she was brought up with an understanding of the law by her parents.  Daniel we know not only knew the law, but lived the law even under threat of death.

Next we must look at what is lusting.  We can all admit that if we lust after a person who is with someone else we are sinning.  We can see if we lust after possessions that someone else has we are disobeying the law.  Yet, lusting goes much deeper.  We know many that talk about their lust of life.  Lusting for life means that you put your desires before the will of God.  We want the best shoes, the best clothes, the best jobs; in fact we want the best of everything we can.  We lust for the things that we think will make us better or famous. 

Yet, what happens when we start lusting for things when we know the law of God.  Are we not convicted of our desires?  We will soon find that we have to make a choice to walk away from what we desire or walk away from God’s will.  The choice is ours.  As it is written, you cannot serve two masters.  This is very true.  We cannot want the things of this world and at the same time keep our eyes set on the goals of God.  We will often find that what we want for ourselves is the complete opposite of what God wants. 

Jesus fulfilled the law.  Yet, we need to understand that if we put our desires, lusts, before the goals of God we are walking away from Jesus.  We have the chance in our life to walk hand in hand with God.  Yet, so often we grab onto the hand yet, if we are told to do something that what we want we drop the hand and go our own way.  We do not let god be our guide instead we allow the things that we desire to be our guide.

We need to look at our lives and see if we put God first in all things.  We need to see if we are following Jesus even if it is taking us away from what we really thought we wanted.  We have to accept that God wants what is best for us.  We must decide if we are willing to follow Jesus or do we continue going down our own path.  The choice is for each individual to choose. 

Prayer:

We praise you God for your guidance.  We thank you for your abundant love.  Help us to put aside the things of this world that are against you will in our life.  Help us come to accept that you only want the best for us.  Help us be a lighthouse for the world not a roadblock.  In the name of the Redeemer and Guide we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Have you accepted that God wants great things in your life?  Are you continuing to desire things that are against the will of God?  What do you need to turn over to God today?  Are you ready to commit fully to the will of God letting go of the things that keep you from fully focusing on God?