LUST… a double-contamination?
I was sitting in my environmental clean-up courses. The speaker had brought a huge list of abbreviations and acronyms and initialisms. I got bored and started googling to expand them all. (New field, new terms, lots of info, and maybe a bit rude that I didn’t pay attention…)
Then I came on one. I did a double-take. I almost snorted.
LUST
Even in science classes you can’t avoid the hyper-sexualization and sensationalism. Or can you?
In this context, LUST expands to leaking underground storage tank. An underground storage tank was a tank placed underground to store materials that you wanted to dispose without a lot of fuss. Not only did people store petroleum products like heating oil, kerosene, gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, they also sometimes hid other toxic substances.
Unfortunately, the solution wasn’t as permanent as the implementers had planned. The huge steel drums only have a life expectancy of 30–50 years. After that (a span during which most of the implementers died), the tanks corrode depending on the composition of the steel and the type of soil in which the LUST was buried. Additionally, to make a buck, the implementers sometimes didn’t install the drums properly, allowing for greater leaks.
This resulted in contamination of groundwater and wells. Not only did the petroleum products contaminate the water, but related organic compounds like benzene, toluene, xylene, and methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) also contaminated the water. Benzene, toluene, and various xylene compounds are naturally occurring components in petroleum. MTBE was an early additive to gasoline to try to help clean emissions.
But then I started thinking about our mind and our soul as storage tanks within our bodies. These storage tanks can leak. When they leak, what’s in them could contaminate those around us.
If we’ve done our homework as Christians, we’ve studied the Word, we’ve worked with a discipleship partner, and we’ve spent time in prayer with the Lord. We’re filled up with good things. When we leak, it’s not such a big deal.
But what’s in us if we haven’t filled up with the right things, if we haven’t empty ourselves of us to let Christ in?
Lust is a big one, yes, but there are others. Galatians 5:19–21 is a good start of all the soul contaminants we could leak. According to the Easy-to-Read Version, these things include:
committing sexual sin, being morally bad, doing all kinds of shameful things, worshiping false gods, taking part in witchcraft, hating people, causing trouble, being jealous, angry or selfish, causing people to argue and divide into separate groups, being filled with envy, getting drunk, having wild parties, and doing other things like this
James 1:6 lists:
having an out-of-control tongue, foolish talk
Romans 1:28–32 includes:
evil, greed, and hatred; full of jealousy, murder, fighting, lying, and thinking the worst things about each other; gossip and say evil things about each other; hate God; rude, proud, and brag about themselves; invent ways of doing evil; don’t obey their parents; foolish; don’t keep their promises; show no kindness or mercy to others; encourage others who do them
If these things are in the storage tanks of our minds and souls, they will leak. They will contaminate everything. God has shown that these things are toxic and poison our relationship with Him and others.
In the real world, LUSTs must be cleaned up by law. There are specific procedures that must be followed. No step can be shortchanged or avoided.
In the spiritual world, God’s law also requires our storage tanks to be cleansed through proper application of His Word. We cannot hide the leakiness of our storage tanks; we have to admit we have a problem called sin. We cannot deal with it on our own.
Next we have to name that sin. It does no good to beat our chests and weep about our sinfulness if we choose to do nothing. We need to name the sin and turn it over to Jesus for forgiveness and cleansing.
Part of cleansing is true repentance, a 180-degree turning away. In repentance and choosing to turn from toxicity, we must study the Word of God to understand clearly what it says about the specific sin and how God suggests we overcome it. We have to replace the toxins in the tank with God’s Word so we have the strength and purity to overcome.
We also have to spend time with God in the presence of His Holy Spirit. This realigns ourselves with His streams of Living Water.
That’s the best detox there is.
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