My mom and I were talking yesterday, in one of our long, rambling conversations that covers every topic known to man, and somehow we came onto the topic of lust and how baffling it is that men struggle with it to such a great degree (I think we came on to this topic because we were talking about the horrors of sexual abuse). My mom was wondering aloud why it is that men struggle with lust so greatly, as in, why would the Lord allow them to struggle so much with something that is so difficult for them? And my answer kind of summed up what the Lord has been showing my lately in my marriage and how He has been relating it to His love for His bride.

I think that men are created to reflect the undying desire and passion of Christ for His bride. He is always desiring us with a passion so strong that it drove him to this earth, to a ridiculed life and death on a cross. And this passion for a woman that each man has in him is a reflection of the strength of Christ's passion for us. But Satan hates this passion terribly, and so he distorts it, making a man's most beautiful, image-bearing desire his most hated weakness.

I can't even begin to pretend that I understand one ounce of this aspect of men and what they go through in struggling with lust, and I know that I never will. But nevertheless, in learning about sex and how it is a reflection of Christ and his church, I'm beginning to understand the created beauty that Satan has distorted. He has set out to claim sex for his own, because he knows that there is no act which better reflects the beauty and mystery of Christ's love for his church. And one of his greatest schemes in doing this is distorting a man's passion and driving it inward, making it the selfish and depraved thing that we call lust.

But seeing the intensity of a man's lust shows me the intensity of Christ's passion. Because Satan didn't twist the intensity; the intensity with which lust destructs is the same intensity with which my Lord loves me. And that is beautiful.

Anyway, I'll shut up now, because I've been talking about this subject way too much lately :)