Christian Counseling - Lust, Pride, Guilt, Hatred and Rebellion - They Aren't All Bad

What we humans do to language. We all have a tendency to use words in a similar context in which we heard them. Consider your first reaction to these words: lust, pride, guilt, hatred and rebellion. Bad, bad and bad again! Without thinking though the words we speak we often only see them as good or bad. But, as they say, there are two sides to every story.

The contemporary common use of lust centers around a sin of sexual desire (yet most of the Greek words are neutral, referring to longings, pleasures and strong desires, which can be controlled and applied to good things, such as Christ's desire to share the last Passover in Luke 22:15), pride is arrogance and exaggerated self-importance (but it also means self-respect and satisfaction in accomplishment), guilt is a feeling of having done something wrong (it is also a needed warning device, which can lead us back to righteousness, and false guilt can tell us about the need to correct dysfunctional or corrupted beliefs), hatred is anger on steroids and we should never even be angry (but God hates Esau, David hates some people with "the utmost hatred" [Psalm 139:21,22], and Proverbs 8:13 tells us that hatred should be part of a righteous life) and, finally, rebellion is often only viewed as wrongly resisting authority (yet authority can be corrupt and rebellion can be right and necessary, like our forefathers who rebelled against the domination of England and started America).

Even the so-called "terrible twos" and teens who rebel against their parents is often not wholly wrong--some parents are dictatorial, or worse, abusive. Children and teens need a voice, to learn assertiveness and develop independence, even though sometimes they manage it poorly.

For some, rebellious is applied to anyone who challenges God to change His desire or a decision or law in any way. Perhaps they believe we all should simply, only and immediately do whatever God says, just the way He first delivers it. But then why did God change His law to permitting divorce under Mosaic law (Matthew 19)? And why does God strongly desire that we wrestle with Him? (See my article "Blessed Is The One Who Fights With God" at cccrd.org/Library/Free Writings on or after February 1st.)

How many words can you come up with that are only and purely bad in any situation?