Purity Thursday: The Ironic Modesty of Lust

Have you ever noticed how modest lust is?

It covers itself well. It wears a thousand dresses. It co-opts sunglasses for cover. It strains peripheral vision to avoid being seen. It masquerades its clicks and google searches as “cultural curiosity” and “I wonder who that actress/actor is.” It cloaks itself behind descriptions like “appreciation of art (or beauty)” to keep from being exposed.

Ironic. You’d think lust would only deal in immodesty.

So, why is lust so modest?

Because it’s shameful. And what is shameful wants to be hidden.

Why is it shameful?

Because it desires to see what ought to be hidden. That selfish desire is perverted. Thus the need for modesty. What is perverted, if it’s going to be accepted, must be inverted or cloaked to hide its perversion.

This is not how God desires us to live. His will is for us to walk in the light and walk in love. Love is the inverse of lust. And love has nothing to hide. Love is honorable and can be exposed without shame.

Let’s not be fooled by the deceptive modesty of lust. Instead, let’s expose it for what it is. When we run openly to the light, we will have nothing to hide.

Let’s live provocatively in the light that others may see our good deeds and be drawn out of the shadows to live in the Light of the world.

See Ephesians 5:1-20, John 3:16-21, 1 John 1:5-10, and Matthew 5:14-16.