LOVE AND THE SINGLES’ WORLD 3
I warmly welcome you all to the April 2023 edition of our Singles’ World. In the last edition, I discussed love in Christian relationships and the perversions that the devil has introduced, which our singles today, have ignorantly and gullibly fallen into. In this edition, I will further examine some more issues. May we not be swept away by the wind of lust of the devil camouflaging as love in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
In our world today, we contend with fake certificates, fake drugs, fake vegetable oil, fake drinks, fake equipment, fake products, fake signatures etc. We also have fake doctors, fake Corps members, fake pastors, fake soldiers, fake lawyers etc. These people impersonate and claim to be what they are not. In most cases, they look like the original, but they are counterfeits.
A fake certificate will be like the original until it is tested. Counterfeiters and impersonators have taken over the place, and the devil is their father. Their tool is deception by presenting the fake as original. This is why our singles today are easily entangled with anything that looks like love when confronted with it.
Naturally in life, some things are similar, but in fact, they are different. A wild boar may look like a pig, but the two are not the same. Apples and tomatoes are round and red, but they are not the same. A crocodile may look like an alligator, but the two are not the same. Frogs and toads may look alike, but the two are different. Flower and flour may sound the same but their meanings are different.
Butter may look like margarine but both are different. Bananas and plantains may look alike, but the two are different. Lust and love may look or appear alike, but they are different. When a Christian woman says that she is in love with a chronic smoker, her feeling may look like the feeling of love, but in fact, it is lust and not love. When a small girl of 14 years old that is in a junior secondary school says that she is in love with a young boy in the junior secondary school, that is lust and not love. Her sexual feelings towards the young man should not be equated with genuine love.
In 2 Samuel 13, we have the story of Amnon, the son of David. In verse 4, the Bible says, “And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister. In verse 2, the Bible says that Amnon “fell sick for his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin.” Even where there is genuine love, one can be sick for one’s lover. In this case, Amnon said he loved Tamar, Absalom’s sister. This is lust that manifested as love to Amnon and Jonadab, Amnon’s evil counsellor. It is lust and not love that makes a man commit rape and incest as we have here between Amnon and Tamar.
Many of our singles are burning with lust today which they call love, and because they cannot manage their sensualities, they commit all forms of immoralities. Amnon rapes his sister in the name of love and brought shame and reproach to his family. For his despicable act, Amnon was slain by Absalom. That is the result of lust and infatuation. Lust has a dangerous way of pushing one into the pit. When Samson claimed that he loved Delilah, he was burning with lust for her, and he called it love. Consequently, he lost everything. This is common with our singles today, and that is why many of them are being swept away by the tides of lust. Lust ensnares. Lust steals. Lust kills. Lust destroys.
Due to the prevalence of indecent dressing and uncontrollable exposure to nudity in society today, many of our singles have been wantonly given to lust. Cohabitation, premarital sex, and masturbation are some of the manifestations of sexual depravity in society today. With all this, the tendency to confuse lust and infatuation with love is incontestable. Unfortunately, many marriage proposals are based on lust and infatuation. Hence, we have a harvest of failed marriages.
A man was passing by one day and saw one of her female friends washing her clothes beside a well. As the woman bent down to wash, a sensitive part of her body was exposed which the man saw. Consequently, the man lusted after her persistently until he slept with her. Finally, both of them were married and the marriage was blessed with children. Unfortunately, the man was never satisfied with his wife over the years and he kept saying that he never loved her. What he wanted was her body. Finally, he divorced her. The point here is that the marriage was founded on lust and not on love. Any relationship that is based on lust and infatuation cannot last, just as a house that is built on sand will not last. Only a house that is built on the rock will last- Matt. 7:24-27.
If you have issues with sexual lust, give your life to Jesus Christ and receive Him as your Lord and Saviour. Then, make yourself available for deliverance and the Lord will deliver you. As you begin to live a new life in Christ Jesus and as you begin to study the Word of God, you will begin to understand the position of the Bible on love and holiness in Christian relationships. It will then be difficult for anyone to deceive you.
By the grace of God, we will continue from here next month. Please don’t forget to send me your comments and testimonies. In case, you are not born again, please surrender your life to Jesus Christ today. Tomorrow may be too late. Till then, God bless you. Amen.
Pastor Jide Ajidahun
