Appetites

In previous lessons we have seen that man is made up of three parts, spirit, soul, and body. We have also seen that the fall of man was brought about by a three pronged attack on man’s spirit soul and body. This attack was made up of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. We will go a little deeper into the lust of the flesh and its attack of the body through man’s appetites.


In Genesis 3:6 we see that the first part of the three fold fall was that the fruit was good for food. In previous lessons we discussed that the lust of the flesh deals directly with man’s biology or man’s body. Man’s body is how man’s soul interacts with his environment. His soul is expressed though his body and perceptions of the physical world around him are made through his body. Part of the body’s function is appetite. Appetite was originally used to draw the body to what was good and necessary. Originally when man’s body needed nourishment, water, rest or anything necessary to his biology it was man’s appetite under the leading of his spirit that would direct him to the appropriate nourishment at the appropriate time. After the fall man’s appetites were not under the direction of his spirit but were ruled by his biology.

Our appetites now in our fallen state do not work for our benefit but work for our hurt. All of us our inclined to taste, touch, ingest or experience things that our biology desires but which will do us harm. This is the nature of our fallen appetites. Many sins on the level of our biology are generally a function of our appetites. Drugs, alcohol, the overindulgence in food, etc is a direct result of the lust of the flesh expressing itself through our appetites.

The only defense against this attack is the same one Jesus used in Luke4: 4. Jesus quoted the word and without having our bodies appetites come under the control of the word through God’s spirit we our powerless to control our various appetites and will be destroyed by our flesh.

NEXT WEEK: WHEN APPETITES BECOME AN ILLNESS.

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