Abstain from Fleshly Lusts
“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;” -1 Peter 2:11
When we hear the apostle Peter’s charge to keep ourselves from “fleshly lusts,” we may think of overtly sensual sins: immorality, drunkenness, and the like. Yet I believe that he was exhorting the brothers in a much broader sense: we are to keep away from our own selfish—or fleshly—desires.
Anything that we selfishly want or desire that does not line up with God’s will, or fit in to His plan for our life, could be termed what the apostle Peter calls a “fleshly lust.”
If this is the case, then what are the repercussions for our everyday actions, words, and even thoughts and attitudes?
Our desires war against the soul
Our selfishness may seem innocent or “natural” on the outside, but Scripture warns us that it literally wars against our own soul—it fights and battles against all the good things that God would have for our lives, and resists and thwarts all the graces that God would bless us with to endure this trial called earthly life.
“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” – Galatians 5:17
Related posts:
Leave a Reply