Libido, Hedonism: Why we should not let our Passions get the best of us.

Let’s face it. People have desires and feelings. The question often arises that if someone has desires, then why not just seek to fulfill those desires? If you wish to indulge in your fantasies, then why not just do it? Some people see God and his followers as people who merely want to repress such feelings. They would have you think God only wants to keep you from having some fun. They see all such Christian prudery as some type of hypocrisy and deprivation. They wonder what could be so appealing about denying their feelings. Despite what some people think, God is not a killjoy. When He would ask you to deny yourself for His sake, it is to preserve your life and not to destroy it. Controlling your passions does not mean God would have you remain unfulfilled. There are plenty of good reasons for not letting your passions get the best of you. Would preserving your life be a good reason? Would not ruining your sex life be a good reason? How about preserving the love in your relationships? A person may be thirsty, but drinking poison to alleviate that feeling is never wise. In life, a person will always reap the consequences to their actions. Because of this, it is always wise to give thought to your steps. Thinking before you decide to do anything is always a good course to take. A person can always avert terrible consequences by being intentional about what they do. Such is the wisdom behind why men’s passions should never trump God’s commands. The omniscient God knows how to render to someone the desires of their heart and bring them life; He also knows how to avoid pitfalls and traps in the process. Trusting in God and not letting our desires get the best of us can preserve our very life. The Bible says men die for lack of instruction. The Wisdom of knowing better will keep you from such immoral and destructive ways.

Why chase something that does not really satisfy?

Learning such wisdom always begins with understanding one’s mindset. Hedonists pursue their idols seeking pleasure. They want to get off. They want to experience that sudden burst of excitement and ecstasy that they associate with some imagined activity or object. In short, they are hooked on a feeling. Their mind’s eye imagines a pathway to attaining this pleasure and they strive to achieve it. They imagine certain things or individuals bringing them fulfillment and they begin to desire those objects. Chasing their dreams provides them a momentary thrill; the anticipation of reward fuels their excitement. They finally acquire the object of their affection only to find it’s not what they imagined it to be. Reality eventually hits them in the face. The object they pursued cannot furnish them the feeling they were searching for. They survey what they really gained for their toil and they find it profits them nothing. Idols that are not real can never really satisfy. The Bible calls them deceitful lusts. They are deceitful because they do not deliver on what they promise. They promise satisfaction and fulfillment, but they only deliver frustration, pain, shame and death. Sexual immorality is really an exercise in futility. Futility implies putting effort toward something that simply does not profit. Familiarity with this fact breeds contempt and this is why the Hedonist is never content with what they have. Seeing this is difficult when your head is stuck in the clouds. Dreamers are not one to be confused with the facts. Their dream persists and they imagine that fulfillment still lies somewhere out there to be had; somewhere external they are not familiar with. This is why the Hedonist always wants something they do not have. So they perpetually run on the hamster wheel pursuing dreams that can never be had. Try to chase the rainbow’s end and you will never reach it. All this activity, rather than satiating one’s passions, only enflames them further. Sexual passions are like a fire. Scratch the itch and you will only intensify the itch. The eye will never have it’s fill of seeing. The ear will never have it’s fill of hearing. The Hedonist can never have enough and his craving drives him mad. There is a reason why such people sing ‘they can’t get no satisfaction.’ Drink of that water and you will only thirst for it again. They attempt to remedy this depravity by perpetually indulging in the behavior always thinking the next time will somehow be different. If indulging in it the first time would not satisfy you, why would repeating the behavior be any different? People who look to pleasure to make themselves feel good form a physical dependence on it to get them through the day. This dependence puts them in bondage to the behavior.

When passions become a bad thing.

A man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. If one allows pleasure to dominate their thoughts, those very thoughts can get the best of them. When a Hedonist makes pleasure or happiness the most important goal in their life, they have just made pleasure their God. Having made pleasure their all, they will now stop at nothing to get it- even common sense. Hedonism is indeed a form of Idolatry. The word idolatry comes from the compound word meaning to serve an image. The Bible says that all Lust and evil desire is fueled through idolatry. Such a disposition can drive a person to step outside the bounds of what is morally appropriate to fulfill one’s passions. This is precisely what gets people into trouble. Their obsessive preoccupation makes them oblivious to the ramifications and consequences of their actions. They are focused on the bait that has lured them and have failed to see the trap that awaits them. They are stuck on the immediate short term gratification without regard for the long term consequences. Some hedonists will persist in their behavior even when they know it will eventually kill them. In the moment, living without what they idolize appears more painful than the risks associated with the indulgence. They figure everyone dies anyway; a person might as well die doing what they love. They reason ‘as long as you throw me my bone, nothing else matters.” So goes the reasoning behind ‘let us live up the moment for tomorrow we die. It is always more profitable to restrain oneself from temptation than to outright perish because of it. You will do well to flee sexual immoral behavior. Rather than losing your life, you will actually preserve it.

There is a real price to be paid for pursuing pleasure for men.

What consequences can the Hedonist expect if He persists to indulge in his fantasy? If men and women will no longer listen to God, He will give them over to the lusts of their own heart as a painful lesson. This means that a person will begin acting out what gets the best of them internally. God allows this because some people will only learn the hard way. People who obsess over their passions become single minded. Personal urges rather than logical thinking drive their actions. They no longer reflect on what is suitable or appropriate for a given set of circumstances. This will change you for the worse and lead you to do some crazy things. Hedonists can behave like animals without regard for higher thinking. Individuals desiring to gratify their flesh begin to view others only as objects of pleasure and a means to an end. Taking advantage of people by using and abusing them in this manner will certainly have a negative impact on their relationships. This will make you a bit repulsive and creepy to people.

When a person thinks self-control only holds them back, they are bound to make some poor choices. Choices that are actually bad for their health. The Bible describes sexually immoral men as Dogs. Dogs, by nature, only live in the moment; give a dog his bone and nothing else matters. They have some sick behavior that can only be described as vile. They lick their own private parts, sniff butts, and hump legs among other bad habits. Dogs scavenge in the worst places attempting to supplement their diet. They will put just about anything in their mouth. Eating what other animals have defecated. Scavenging just about anything they can get their paws on. Scarfing down food without giving a thought to whether or not it is good for them. Rather than fulfilling themselves, their personal habits will often make them sick. They will throw up something that is vile only later to eat it back down again. They quickly forget the discomfort of throwing up and what their diet actually did to them. What initially made them vomit all of a sudden looks yummy to them again. The scriptural proverb ‘A dog returns to it’s own vomit’ is really true. Dogs perpetuate these bad habits because they fail to take a hard look at how their behavior impacts them; how they receive in themselves the penalty of their own error. As the saying goes, it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. If what you are doing is not working for you, why not try another way?

There is a real price to be paid for pursuing pleasure for women.

In Scripture, Females who lack discretion are called pigs. Pigs are herd animals greedy for satiating their own appetites. Pigs love to be scratched and rubbed; they love attention. Pigs like to root things out and will do everything they can to unearth some tasty morsel. In similar fashion, a hedonist woman desperate for love will attempt to dig up affection from the most sordid places. If a woman believes modesty and propriety hold them back, they are tempted to go Hog wild. They will root just about anywhere looking for love in all the wrong places. Pigs wallow in the mud in order to cool themselves down. The dirtier they get, the easier it seems to let loose. Rolling in the muck seems to provide some momentary relief from the itch and heat. Women can make a real mess of things when they behave like this. They defile themselves in the process; they don’t realize how this abominable behavior is what makes them loathesome. Making a spectacle of yourself will get you attention, but not the kind of loving attention a woman really craves. Act like a pig and everyone one will know you to be one. So the very indulgence a woman expects to soothe her passions only further enflames them. Not only does hedonist behavior degrade a person and smear them with a shame that will continue to haunt them, but their actions will still leave them unhappy at the end of the day.

What if there was a better way?

What if I told you there was a better way; a way to fulfill your passions and not be destroyed in the process? Despite what you may think, God does have a plan for your Life; a plan to fulfill the desires you have. The Bible says to trust in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart (Ps 37:4). Craving only ceases when that which truly satisfies is found. The living water God promises to give will not only quench your thirst but become in you a wellspring spilling with life (John 4:14). Does real refreshment not sound like what People are looking for? If only people would taste and see that the Lord is good. Because people burn with passion, God ordained that each man should have his own wife and each woman should have her own husband (I Cor 7:2). A Godly spouse is from the Lord; only a loving and committed spouse is prepared to fulfill the needs and passions of an individual. The Bible says that a loving spouse can prove to be a fountain of blessing that satisfies at all times (Prov 5:18-19). Why go on dreaming when one can have the real thing? If you are single, ask God for a godly spouse. He sets the lonely in families all the time (Ps 68:6). If you are married, learn how to tap into what your spouse has to offer. You cultivate this by following God’s prescription for making a marriage work. It truly is better to marry than to burn with passion (I Cor 7:9). You have only to keep yourself from ruining your own situation. You do this by showing some restraint and allowing God to guide your passions. Confine your fire to it's proper place and it will keeps your whole house warm. Allow it to rage uncontrolled and it will only burn down your whole house.