[1 John Series 8] The Pull Of Materialism And PrideSample

The Lust of the Flesh

When talking about the battle against materialism and pride, John shows us three places where we need to keep our hearts in check: The desires of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s own possessions or the boastful pride of life. The Bible doesn’t state that certain things, experiences, or honors come from the world and not from the Father. Instead, it says that it is in our attitude towards these things, not the activities themselves, where we have to be on guard.

We can see how all three of these pitfalls came into play in one verse of Scripture. It is the place of the first sin. Here is what it says:

“Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food...”

What is that? Lust of the flesh.

“…And delightful to look at…”

Lust of the eyes.

“…And that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom.”

The boastful pride of life. 

In the first sin, we see all three of the dangers that John addresses in 1 John 2. The first one is the lust of the flesh, which is where our old nature and our new nature are at war. The Bible says that Jesus Christ died on a cross so that you could receive Him as Savior and place your faith in Him alone. When you do that, you are given a new nature in Jesus Christ. This means we have an old nature, from before we trusted Christ as Savior, that desires the things of sin. And a new nature, through the Holy Spirit, that desires the things that are of God.

No matter what we already have, our old nature will always be craving something else. But our new nature can be satisfied in our relationship with Jesus Christ. He gives you living water so that you never thirst again. He gives you the bread of life so that you never hunger again. 

The reason that we don’t practice sin—not that we will ever be perfect—is because we have been given a new nature that desires other things. What if the sin is covered in chocolate? It is still sin. We have been given a new nature in Jesus Christ that desires the things of God.