Most men spend their whole lives fighting lust the wrong way.
Fleeing sexual immorality has more to do with our position in Christ than it does with simply trying to run away.
No dead man has ever sat up from his casket to lust after a beautiful woman walking by.
The man is dead, but alive in Christ, so lust doesn’t even make him flinch.
Colossians 3:3-5 says:
“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”
Consider this: When facing lust, is your goal to simply not sin?
Or is your goal to steward the moment in such a way that you end up transformed into Christlikeness in the face of temptation?
The first thing we need to understand is who we are in God.
Facing the Real Problem
Power comes from dying to self and living in Christ, and we are meant to remain in His presence at all times. When lustful temptations come at us, we don’t simply need to run away from them, but rather we need to flee towards our rightful position in Christ.
The battle men face against lust isn’t primarily a behavioral problem, but rather an issue of submission—or lack thereof.
Therefore, the answer to lust shouldn’t be primarily behavioral, but about learning how to die to self and submit to Christ, who gives us life.
We’ve been told that struggling with lust is simply part of being a man. However, nowhere in God’s Word does Scripture imply that battling lust has to be exhausting or overpowering.
The answer to lust shouldn’t be primarily behavioral, but about learning how to die to self and submit to Christ, who gives us life.
Many men say that lust is something we’ll simply have to struggle with forever. After all, men are sexual and visual creatures, right?
But lust isn’t the problem.
Thinking it has to be a struggle is the problem.
When 1 Corinthians 6:18 says to “flee sexual immorality,” it’s imperative that we know what it’s actually saying.
Many men try to flee sexual immorality with earthly solutions. We think of practical solutions like getting blockers on our phones, leaving the room when we’re tempted, or looking away from an immoral picture.
While these are helpful and recommended, the problem is that they don’t actually deal with the lust of the heart.
The whole context of 1 Corinthians 6 is spiritual unity with Christ, so fleeing sexual immorality is not just about physically fleeing sin, but about submitting to God and fleeing towards the Lord in our hearts.
Think of your battle against lust like this:
If lust is in a man’s heart—as Jesus says in Matthew 5:28—but we flee the room or device where temptation occurs, aren’t we just carrying that lust in our hearts wherever we go?
Lustful temptations are simply opportunities for us to learn submission and die to self, which opens the door for abundant life in Christ.
How Joseph Fought Lust
In Genesis 39, Joseph is pestered daily by Potiphar’s wife trying to seduce him. Most people familiar with the story think that Joseph’s immediate response to lust was to physically flee.
However, that actually wasn’t his first move.
Simply fleeing lust can lead to not sinning. But dealing with lust by submitting to God’s way leads to transformation and the establishment of our identity in Him.
Joseph’s first response to the potential of sexual immorality was to declare his identity and his authority—and to declare His allegiance to God.
Let me explain.
In Genesis 39:8-9, Joseph replies to her sexual advances:
“Behold, because of me, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”
The definition of the word “steward” is: “One who manages or looks after another’s property.”
Essentially, Joseph was saying, “My master has given me authority as a steward, and I am submitted to what he has said.”
A steward knows who he belongs to, and despite his energy levels, fleshly desires, or the pressures of the job, he stays submitted to his master because he is a steward.
Joseph’s initial response to lust was to declare his identity and authority.
A steward knows who he belongs to, and despite his energy levels, fleshly desires, or the pressures of the job, he stays submitted to his master because he is a steward.
Joseph knew that sexual immorality is a grievous sin. Giving in to lust is not just something bad, a slip-up, or a mistake. He declared it to be what it still is for you and me: a great wickedness and sin against God.
After Joseph declared his identity and the grievous sin that lust is, he still didn’t immediately flee. He stayed in the house where he exercised authority and submission to his master, which is why Potiphar’s wife could come to him day after day, as Genesis 39:10 says.
Eventually, she physically grabbed him, and he left his garment in her hand while he wisely fled out of the house. This resulted in him being falsely accused, thrown into jail, and forgotten about (Genesis 39:11-20).
Joseph paid a price for honoring God because his life was not about him. He was dead to his own ways and totally submitted to God’s.
Fighting Lust the Right Way
Men who are trapped in lust often don’t want to flee sexual immorality because they don’t want to neglect the pleasure it provides. Living without that pleasure feels like too great a consequence, so lust becomes tolerable.
A man I know confessed that he had engaged sexually with his girlfriend. This was because he wanted to marry her, but she refused to get married, and he didn’t want to lose her.
He wasn’t stewarding the body or life God had given him in a godly way, nor was he submitting to God or being willing to face the possible consequences of choosing to honor God.
He realized that the consequence of living right for the Lord in his sexuality would be that his girlfriend would leave him. However, it was eventually clear to him that losing the relationship was a consequence he had to face if he was going to honor the Lord.
This man hadn’t been willing to die to himself and find life in the Lord because he was instead finding life in the pleasure of immorality while neglecting the Lord’s command.
Dying to self is hard, but life-giving. It’s the end of prioritizing our comfort and pleasure over all that God has for us.
The battle against lust does not have to be hard. God permits temptations in our lives, in part, as reminders to die to ourselves and learn to walk in our God-given identity as stewards.
So if you find yourself in a position of having to physically flee temptation, do it—but don’t stop there.
Pursue submission to God and choose to die to yourself so you can get established in the identity, authority, and truth that God has already spoken over you.
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Check out Matt’s main sexual freedom program at www.restoredministries.ca/armory, as well as his podcast at https://www.youtube.com/@restoreddesire!
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