Cornerstone

Artificial Love

Event Recap

At our last Cornerstone of the school year, Kayleen taught on the topic of “Artificial Love” and the importance of having purity in our thought lives. Lust, which is defined as having a strong desire focused on satisfaction, is a sin. When we indulge ourselves in lustful fantasies, we idolize ourselves and our selfish desires (Matthew 5:27-28). Kayleen taught us that in order to have purity in our thought lives, we need to rewire our minds, hearts, and wills.

 First, we need to rewire our minds to see sin as sin. God takes our sin seriously, so much so that Christ died on the cross for our sins—of which our lustful thoughts are no exception (1 Peter 1:18-19). When we think our lustful thoughts are “no big deal” or that “no one sees my thoughts,” we are downplaying God’s holiness (1 Peter 1:14-16) and omniscience (Hebrews 4:13). At the Bema seat, we will be accountable to God for our lustful thoughts, so guard your mind and seek to be God-honoring in your thoughts. Second, we need to rewire our hearts. Lustful thoughts are selfish and focused on how much you can get from another person. This is fake love! True, biblical love is not self-seeking, but seeks to sacrifice for God and others. Rather than having artificial love, let us grow in loving God by choosing to actively think and meditate on biblical truths, which will naturally result in holiness (Psalm 119:9-11). Lastly, we need to rewire our wills. God desires our good and His design for sex in marriage is the most satisfying. Being on guard in our thought lives is a way that we can love and be sacrificial toward our future spouse.

 Knowing these truths, let us be quick to turn away from lustful thoughts, and seek accountability from other sisters in the church. God cares about our thought lives, so let us be vigilant in our fight against artificial love and be persistent in our pursuit of holiness.

Event Testimonial

Here is what our sister, Lisa, learned:

"Epithymia. This is a Greek word used for “lust” in Scripture - It means to have a strong desire that is focused on satisfaction or obtaining what is desired. “Cornerstone: Artificial Love” was exactly what I was needing to hear about in my current fight with sin. Kayleen put “lust” under the umbrella of idolatry saying that it is actually a distortion of true worship, when the only one worthy of being worshiped is God Himself. She encouraged us as sisters to rewire our minds, rewire our hearts, and rewire our wills - all to align with God’s! The fact that Jesus died for every single lustful thought we have had gives so much weight to the fact that this sin needs to be fought. Personally, in my application, I want to filter my thoughts through Philippians 4:8 and go through each of the descriptives and align it with my current thoughts to see if it is what I should be dwelling on - I won’t be able to get past even the first characteristic of a good thought if I am dwelling on sin! I also want to commit myself to pray for the Lord to help me fight against lustful thoughts each and every morning - with full confidence that He will answer because it is within His will and to never let my guard down!"

Watch this promotional video for Artificial Love: 

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For more information about our Cornerstone series, click here!