Elder Jeffrey R. Holland recently spoke about pornography and how it affects us. He told a story of a conversation he had with some members of the church and said "In a conversation we hadn’t expected, we soon learned through their tears that all three of these women were recently divorced, that in each case their husbands had been unfaithful to them, and in each case the seeds of alienation and transgression had begun with an attraction to pornography."
He went on to say "Love makes us instinctively reach out to God and other people. Lust, on the other hand, is anything but godly and celebrates self-indulgence. Love comes with open hands and open heart; lust comes with only an open appetite."
Another thing he said that I liked was "I think it is a sin because it defiles the highest and holiest relationship God gives us in mortality—the love that a man and a woman have for each other and the desire that couple has to bring children into a family intended to be forever. Someone said once that true love must include the idea of permanence. True love endures. "
In reverse to the idea that "True love endures" we can conclude that Lust doesn't endure. Mostly, this is the teaching of Jesus Christ- love endures, lust does not. "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:" (Matthew 6:20). "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. " (John 6:35). The Savior gave us a view of the big picture thats often easy to overlook in this world of seeking instant gratification. He showed us how to live immortally in a mortal world by living morally in an immoral world.
Its often the case that we're too easily satisfied to settle for something less, a lesser god in the form of lust and thereby forsaking the God of love. We are so easily satisfied to be as the scribes who sought their reward by doing their "alms before men, to be seen of them" and such have "no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward." What a poor substitute for a reward! Glory of men instead of the glory of God.
The prophet David O'Mckay said that we are to live the gospel "to make life sweet today, to give contentment to the heart today, to bring salvation today... today is part of eternity." If today is part of eternity and we are stuck in the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity, it is because we are not living the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing but Jesus Christ can give us the satisfaction we seek in our spirits of being one with God.
Often the chains of lust and self indulgence are seen in hindsight, the smoker who finds all the money and health that was costed his life for his temporary satisfaction when feeding his addiction. The temporary relief becomes our goal and god. The addiction is never satisfied, its a continuous growing problem that takes over our freedom. Its as Jacob spoke about in chapter 6, verse 10; "And according to the power of justice, for justice cannot be denied, ye must go away into that lake of fire and brimstone, whose flames are unquenchable, and whose smoke ascendeth up forever and ever, which lake of fire and brimstone is endless torment." If you are addicted to a temporal satisfaction but are an immortal being then you are in a conflict and thus confined to a state of endless torment.
Love on the other hand, is freeing by its precepts of needing to give rather than take, you are completely satisfied by satisfying others and helping them feel whole. By giving you are receiving something greater than you could ever take from someone, you are receiving someone. The worth of souls is great in the sight of God and every person is precious to our Heavenly Father. By keeping that in mind we are able to look past our own futile attempts at satisfaction through self indulgence and seek the well being in others, which in turn gives us that feeling called "pure love of Christ" which is Charity and with that we become closer to our Heavenly Father. Without Charity we are nothing, as Christ said "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." What good are we, if we do not have love? If we only seek our own satisfaction we are only good for ourselves and useless to others.
Here is the talk from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland on Lust-
http://combatingpornography.org/cp/eng/individuals/prevent/article/place-no-more-for-the-enemy-of-my-soul
