There's a difference between lust and passionate love. Lust

The actress and thinker Jennifer Winget once spoke with burning clarity: “There’s a difference between lust and passionate love. Lust can’t just creep in. You’ll not find it where true love exists, but it has power enough to shatter the world you’ve worked so hard to create with love, and sometimes, it suddenly changes how you perceived love to begin with. Love then doesn’t live there anymore.” In this she draws the eternal line between lust and love, teaching that though they may seem similar in flame, one endures and sanctifies, while the other consumes and destroys.

The origin of this wisdom rests in the timeless struggle of the human heart. Love, when true, is a union of soul and spirit, built with patience, sacrifice, and trust. Lust, by contrast, is hunger without root, desire without anchor. It does not arise quietly within love, for where love is, the heart is full. But it hovers like a shadow at the edge of passion, and when it intrudes, it has the power to ruin, leaving only ashes where once there was a dwelling of tenderness.

History offers us the tale of Helen of Troy, whose beauty stirred not love but lust in Paris. Their passion, lacking the depth of devotion, ignited a war that consumed nations. The walls of Troy, built with generations of toil, crumbled beneath the fire of a desire that pretended to be love but was nothing more than hunger. In this story we see Winget’s truth: lust shatters the worlds men and women build, while love sustains them through storm and war.

The ancients too gave warning. The Hebrews told of David and Bathsheba—how the king’s lust led to betrayal, death, and sorrow, eroding the bond he had with God and his people. In contrast, the Song of Songs exalts passionate love, not as fleeting desire but as a fire divine, a flame that cannot be quenched. Thus they, like Winget, taught that true love creates, while lust destroys.

Therefore, O children of tomorrow, know the difference. Do not confuse the heat of lust with the sacred fire of love. One burns bright but quickly dies, leaving ruin in its wake; the other glows steadily, warming the heart and lighting the path for a lifetime. Guard your world with discernment, for once lust intrudes, it may twist even your memory of love. Choose wisely, for upon that choice rests not only the fate of your heart but the strength of the life you build.