The word lust means ”the over-desire.” There are basic God-given hungers and desires built into our body and human personality. Because they are from God they are ”good and perfect gifts.” Satan, in his attack on God’s creatures, abuses these God-given qualities. He seeks to mold these desires into over-desires, or lusts, so that his own evil purposes can be fulfilled.

We can think of the ”lust of the flesh” as a consuming passion to do; ”the lust of the eyes” as a compelling urge to have; ”the pride of life” as a constant thrust to be. This basic trinity of temptation becomes a constant dynamic to do, to have, to be, linked with these three desires — passions, possessions, pride.

It is remarkable, as we shall see, that this is the devil’s only pattern of attack. All the temptations throughout the ages have come along these three lines, very often in the same order given in I John 2:16. In this subtle way the devil has something for everybody. There are those to whom the lusts of the flesh are distasteful and any temptation along those lines would meet with failure. But such people can be highly susceptible to ”the lust of the eyes” — to have possessions. Others are easily drawn out on the over-desire of the pride of life — the urge to be, with its longing for position.

(John Hunter, Knowing God’s Secrets: The Secret of the Effective Christian Life, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1967, 78-79; From Chapter 8: The Secret of Recognizing Temptation)