Lust
1 Corinthians 6:18: ‘Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.’
Matthew 5:27-28: ‘You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’’
I could write a billion posts on lust and will start to confront this topic more on here but I wanted to share a tip to combat lusting after others when single. If you find yourself having crush after crush and imagining life with different people each night go fall asleep (i’ve been there - it’s more common than you might realise) the Lord showed me something. Well firstly that this was committing adultery as according to Matthew 5:27-28, but also how to flee from it. Start praying for the people you find yourself lusting over, whether celebrities or people close to you (or even fictional characters) bring it to God. The worst thing to do is hide and sit in shame and guilt since that is where the enemy wants you to be in order to spiral. To break this spiral just talk to God and be open. He knows and sees everything already anyways so just repent and bring it to Him. As well as praying for these people also ask God that you see them as siblings in Christ and/or see them as He does, see the love he has for them - the pure love not tainted by lust.
Lust is something so many Christians struggle with and it’s an ongoing battle for us all. But Christ broke all chains to sin the moment he died on the cross and rose again after three days - defeating death and sin. Flee from lust. As much as you can avoid shows or music or any media that can tempt you, no matter how ‘innocent’ it can be societally, make sure to discern what is good or not good for you personally.
If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask me. I am not perfect at all and still sin and get tempted and fall. But what matters is we pick ourselves up after every time and run away from sin and run towards God. He is waiting for you with open arms. Do not deny yourself His peace.