Lust is a corruption of the beautiful original picture of love. Lust comes veiled and disguised as love such that the person it is having expression through may not know what he or she is having is fake, and certainly the subject upon whom expression is directed is much more likely to be deceived to believe he or she is having the original. It is a great necessity for us to discover the differences in the character of love and lust if we will not mistake one for the other. Love is strong and cannot be quenched by many waters as wise King Solomon tells us (Songs of Songs 8:7). The feelings that accompany lust are equally strong but will not withstand the stormy waves that blow against it. Love grows stronger but lust, though it starts feverishly, loses steam until it eventually transforms to unimaginable hatred. A story in the Bible gives us a good illustration of these facts. Amnon the first son and heir apparent of King David, a king of Israel, fell in love with a woman ( 2 Samuel 13:1-18). His was such a feverishly tempered love that knew no caution, for the woman he had fallen in love with was Tamar, his sister and one of King David’s daughters. Although he knew it was an abominable act for him to have sexual relationship with his sister, yet aided by his devious friend, he plotted a subtle scheme and committed the abominable act. He raped his sister. If we saw Amnon at the time of his obsess infatuation, we may have thought he had fallen in love, yet his actions in the course of time revealed he had fallen in lust instead. He even fell sick for Tamar’s sake. Watch it when a man or woman is heads over hill in love with you such that they could fall sick when they missed you, it just may be they have fallen in lust with you. Another story will help us see an example of what it is to fall in lust. Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, was captivated the very moment he set his eyes on Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, the Israelite (Genesis 34: 1- 26). It was the first time he had seen her and yet he sought to have her and would not let her go. Against Dinah’s consent, Shechem lay with her, incurring the wrath of her brothers, the patriarchs of Israel. In the heat of what seemed to be love, Shechem never thought of what would be the fallout of his action. He had placed the cart before the horse in the hours of his falling in lust such that when he sought to marry Dinah afterwards, it was perceived by Dinah’s brethren to be an act of rubbing in salt into injury. The consequences of Shechem’s falling in lust were so grave that it cost his life and those of the men of his family and his clan. These stories help us identify the elements that characterize people’s actions when they fall in lust. When people fall in lust, they are often very irrational in the decisions they make. It seems the term “love is blind” should be best used to describe lust than it could be used for love. In the heat of lust, people lose their senses of right judgment. They ignore the bad character and impropriety exhibited by the ones they claim to love. When people fall in lust, the attractions they have for the man or woman is mostly on the external physical beautiful appearance of the individual or their possessions. When people fall in lust, they will have no consideration of the spiritual state of the persons they claim to love. These considerations only begin to matter when the fervor of their lustful infatuation dies down. When people fall in lust, it is always a venture motivated by selfish desires, hence, the drive is geared towards the satisfaction of some selfish emotional or sexual feelings. When people fall in lust, the feelings and attractions that they had in the beginning of the venture eventually transforms into hatred and rejection of the persons they claimed to love. Many marriages have become very abusive and some have been split by divorce having been entered into as a result of falling in lust. Amnon who had once so desired Tamar, hated her so much the moment he had finished off having sex with her. Indeed lust is a terrible blight in the picture of true love. Unfortunately, so much of what people call falling in love today is nothing but their falling in lust. Dear friend, I have desired to bring to your attention to this matter so that you can make a good evaluation of the feelings you may be having. I desire by the grace of God that all young men and women may know that there is something like people falling in lust, and that they may avoid it and not be among the numerous heart-broken people in the world today who have been used and abused by those who claimed to love them. True love may not come very easy but it surely comes and will be seen to be such a beautiful and pleasant life-long companion. Do not hurt yourself or others by falling in lust. Let God lead you. Let Him order your heart and He will guide your steps. You can trust that Jehovah, the almighty God whose name is also Love (1 John 4:16), will give you the capacity to truly love and cleave to the one whom He ordains to be the bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh. Above all, surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and receive the great love of God to pardon all your sins. He will give you a new heart and the capacity to love truly. Now, I must once again plead with you, if you must “fall” in love, be sure you are not falling in lust! Add 0802 739 7554 To Receive NEWS ALERTS On WhatsApp; For Adverts Enquiries, Whatsapp 0802 739 7554, READ ALSO! 14-Year-Old Pregnant Housemaid Dislodges Her Childless Madam, Says I Can’t Share Husband With You READ ALSO! The Smart CEO: Top 5 Websites To Get Cheap Domain Name Registration READ ALSO! First Bank’s Appalling Customer Service And Utter Disregard For Its Customers READ ALSO! Nigerian Filmmaker, Zuriel Oduwole Makes Forbes List Of 100 Most Influential African Women READ ALSO! the statement he issued earlier on Sunday ]]>