“Don’t touch. Don’t taste. Don’t handle”. We hear these three “rules” often when learning how to fight—and overcome—lust.
The problem is, mere rule-keeping does not itself get to the heart of lust. This is one of the great lessons Paul teaches in Scripture. Merely knowing the law only aggravates our lusts (Romans 7:7-12), and following rigid ascetic regulations—don’t touch, don’t taste, don’t handle—is “of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (Colossians 2:20-23).
If the “law” itself is not able to turn our hearts away from temptation, then how exactly do we fight against a spirit of lust? And how can we finally overcome it?
Editor’s Note: Are you a teenager struggling with lust? Before reading this post, I encourage you to check out this article we wrote especially for teens, How to Overcome Lust: 4 Tips for Teens.
How the Bible Teaches Us to Fight Lust
In 2 Timothy 2:22, Paul offers some of the best, most concise bits of Biblical advice on how to overcome lust: “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
Commit it to memory. Chew on it daily. Let your mind marinate in it, for in it lies three biblical strategies for fighting lust.
See related: What is Lust in the Bible?
1. Run From Lust
“So flee youthful passions”
“Passions” refer to our cravings, our longings, and our desires. More specifically, the passage speaks of “youthful passions.” These fleshly lusts are said to “wage war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11). On the surface, these cravings are anchored in the members of our body (Romans 6:12), but as we look deeper, we find they stem from our sinful hearts (Romans 7:7). Ultimately, these passions are forms of idolatry (Colossians 3:5), revolving our lives and desires around created things rather than the Creator.
See related: For singles: How to Handle Strong Sex Drive in a God-Honoring Way
We must run from these things. Every Christian, even though he or she is indwelt by the Spirit of Christ, still lives in a mortal body surrounded by worldly amusements. These youthful lusts stubbornly cling to our heels. As we see these passions stirred in us, we must habitually flee from them.
- This might mean mentally fleeing: bouncing our thoughts away from lustful imaginations.
- This might mean visually fleeing: bouncing our eyes away from lustful images.
- This might mean physically fleeing: walking (or running) away from tempting situations.
See related: Overcoming Temptation: Bible Verses and Principles to Help You Resist Sin
2. Run to Christ
“. . . pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace”
It is not enough to flee from youthful lusts. We must run toward a new passion. We are to “pursue,” that is, eagerly and swiftly run toward Christlikeness.
Christ promises His people a heart of:
- Righteousness (real integrity, a passion for justice, and a life pleasing to God)
- Faith (strong and welcome conviction and trust in God)
- Love (benevolent affection toward God and others)
- Peace (tranquility in the heart and harmony with God and others)
We are to run hard after these things each day knowing these character qualities are how we were created to live. We pursue these things knowing it is our destiny to live this way. A billion years from now, when sin is a distant memory, we will be living lives of love, peace, and righteousness in the kingdom of God. Having this hope we purify ourselves, just as He is pure (1 John 3:3).
3. Run With Godly Friends
“. . . along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
We must not only run from lust and toward God’s vision for our lives, but we must also run with our brothers and sisters with the same vision. We must all find companions for this stretch of the road, those who share our faith and convictions, those in the common struggle for holiness.
These friends should be those who “call on the Lord,” an expression for those who are saved (Acts 22:16; Romans 10:13). These are other men and women who have also cried out to God for the forgiveness of their sins from a “pure” (genuine) heart.
Running with others involves a certain level of intentionality. It is not enough to simply know others around us are on the same journey because they profess the Christian faith. We must have real running companions, those who actually help us flee youthful passions and pursue a Christlike heart.
James 5:16 and Hebrews 10:24-25 offer four key building blocks that give structure to how Christian accountability should look. These building blocks are: meeting together, confession of sin, prayer, and encouragement.
Meeting together is the foundation. This includes all the basic methods of communication and conversation: meeting for coffee, talking on the phone, texting, writing emails, or anything that involves a meeting of minds. The central pillar in the room is confession of sin: getting honest with God and one another about what we are doing that we shouldn’t do or not doing what we should. The outer walls that support and protect this relationship are prayer and encouragement.
Why Can’t I Just Stop Lusting?
People ask me all the time, “Why can’t I just stop lusting?” I share my response to these people in this video below, which happens to include references to 2 Timothy 2:22. We believe so strongly that this verse contains the best strategy for how to overcome lust and quit porn that we actually used it as the foundation for a 40-day challenge called Overcome Porn. This challenge walks you through these three strategies and equips you with some of our best resources to put porn in your past for good. So watch this video, and give Overcome Porn: The 40-Day Challenge a try today.
Fighting against lust isn’t easy, but it’s also not something that you need to do alone. Through prayer, Scripture, accountability, and a heartfelt desire to flee from lustful passions, you can resist temptation and overcome lust.
We’d love to hear from you. What has God taught you about breaking free from lust? Comment below!
tanx guys am from Ghana I think it is God Blessing for knowing this forum… I have been battling with lust for the past 4 months I HV been praying and fasting but anytime i sleep i have a dream that am having sex with somebody. I have tried and tried but still ..can anybody help me?!!! I don’t want to go back to fornication….advice please
Hello Kojo, I’m so sorry that you’re struggling in this way. The enemy invades even our dreams and thoughts! Reading your struggle made me think about 2 Corinthians 10, where Paul writes, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” May you embrace the strength inside of you as a child of God – a strength that can control even our dreams.
Peace, Chris
Covenant Eyes
Run from, is getting up and out in poblic, and staying out tell the desire is gone. It seems easy to do but it’s getting up, getting out, both have action that is contrary to my thinking of this is easy no problem, it is just that’s a problem. I don’t move.
This message on run from, to and with has lighten a candle in my heart and life.I’ve tried to resolve in every new year to stop this practice(pornography) but all efforts have ended in futility.I see this message as a good starter in the struggle against this filthy practice.Thank you
Hello Yakubu, I’m so glad. You’re not alone! God is for you and anything is possible through Him.
Chris
Covenant Eyes
I am in a bout of temptation as I write this, so I will run with you all. I have a view on this matter that may help others.
This view is what I believe salvation means, both from the perspective of your eternal soul and from this moment of temptation…
Salvation is an act of desperation. You cannot be saved because you want to be. You cannot saved because you believe that you should be. Salvation occurs at the moment that you realize that you are utterly powerless, weak and unfit for the kingdom of God. In this moment, you abandon your will and desires to God and allow him bear the burden of your sins, because at long last you realize that you are incapable of doing so yourself.
I cannot overcome sin. I cannot live a righteous life. I can only even maintain an appearance of righteousness to the world for so long. And, because I viewed myself as a strong an intelligent man, loved and respected by those around me, my moment of salvation came at 31 years old, after a lifetime in the church, well in versed old testament and new, and staunch defender Christianity. I was never saved because I believed that my actions and words were the cause of salvation.
Only by admitting that I was a sinner, a sexual deviant and pornography addict before the lord, and ceasing my struggle against temptation by allowing God to fight my battles for me was I finally saved. My heart and mind belong to Jesus now. His Holy Spirit is in charge of my life.
Satan and the world want me to take control of my life. They want me proud, thinking that I am capable of winning against sin through force of will, and that righteousness is within my grasp if I do so. What actually saves me when temptation occurs is asking for a renewal of Gods holy spirit, and reasserting my helplessness and weakness before God as I did the day I was first saved. It is like being saved for the first time over and over and over. Perhaps one day the temptation will cease or become less frequent. I hope so, but so far not. Only giving my struggle up to God has helped me. When I do, peace occurs. Giving up the struggle is hard and counterintuitive, but it is true.
Now, when I am tempted, I
For me I use to work alone doing service work and the temptation at that time was to Masturbate to Porn during work. I would sneak off during my shift and steal the time while Masturbate in the bathroom of my clients facility sometimes even their homes. My perversion was out of control but coming to the Lord Jesus Christ I have started to be cleansed of this perversion of pornography. I found my perversion getting larger and larger like a never ending fire that fuels itself. The devil cannot get enough and wants to ravage our souls rapaciously! My struggle now is working in a big city and women walking half naked. I find myself festering lust in my heart as they walk by or I sit next to them on the train instead of viewing them as gifts of God almighty. I am seeking the Sacrament of Reconciliation more often and staying away from porn. Cold showers believe it or not have actually helped me out quite a bit. Praying for Jesus to enter my heart each and every day and to embrace holiness one day at a time. I feel ashamed and disgusted with my past indulgences with porn but recognize that through the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ I am cleansed and born anew. May God bless you all in this struggle. We are not alone!
City Struggle
nice teaching, God bless
My husband told me that when we walk in malls and similar places, he constantly needs to turn his face away from sensual posters, or women dressed provocatively. It says he constantly needs to be conscience of such things as he does not even want to look at a women in the wrong way, and that he constantly needs to question himself on whether he did look at a women in the wrong way. But is this the right way that he should be dealing with it, according to the ‘Run from’ paragraph? I want to help him to overcome this, but I think I need help too, in dealing with him having this problem. I definitely appreciate this article and realise that our lack is in the third paragraph, having friends, we have, but we aren’t very close to anyone in particular to the point where we can share our experiences.
Hello Anon – in our pornified world, I’ve had to do the same thing as your husband, with turning my eyes whenever I see that there is a woman coming towards me where there’s a risk I might look with slightly impure motive. I’ve found that “run from” is a constant, persistent effort – taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5) is my goal, but the implementation is a work in progress. What specific part of what he’s doing to stay pure is difficult for you?
I hope that you will pray for look for those types of friends, or maybe they’re already in your surroundings, but it just takes one person to really share deep to create a deeper connection.
-Chris
Covenant Eyes
I’ll be 26years of age in September; never had sex with a lady; growing up in a godly heritage, BUT impure thoughts seldom come my way giving birth to browsing porn pictures.
Am a preacher of The Gospel with a level of manifestation of God’s saving power on many lives,but I seldom fall flat in The face of temptation by lust. I’m praying as Paul to keep my body under control so as not to lose heaven after preaching and leading many to Christ.
I’m conversant with all Scriptures dealing with overcoming youthful lust,
Please,What Else Do I Lack?
Mercy,LORD. AMEN
At a high level, one can run away from lust, run towards God, and run with trusted allies. It seems that you are running away well, and that you are keeping your eyes fixed on God for your strength. Do you have any trusted believers who you can talk to? Friends who can ask you hard, but loving questions about your choices? This blog post is very helpful: https://www.covenanteyes.com/2010/05/13/3-biblical-strategies-for-fighting-lust/
Peace, Chris
Covenant Eyes
Thank you!