Today’s Scripture: Job 29-31

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world. – 1 John 2:15-16

I had a Christian friend who contracted polio during the late 1950s and was confined to an iron lung. I remember visiting him when he had wasted away to nothing but skin and bones. I asked him what was the most difficult thing he faced in his ordeal, and he said, “The lust of the flesh.”

I was stunned. Here was this guy on his deathbed, still fighting the same thing you and I struggle with. You see, the lust of the flesh is a battle fought in our minds. And one of the ways the enemy launches his attacks is through what we see.

Listen to Job’s words in 31:1: “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.” Job began at the right place, his eyes. He did not allow his eyes to stimulate his mind to lustful thoughts and impure desires.

Now obviously we can’t go through life blindfolded. We will catch glimpses of many people each day. But it is not the first glimpse that causes the problem. It is the second look that we are to avoid. Where did the first sin have its beginning? Genesis says that the woman saw that the forbidden tree was good and pleasant to the eyes. So what we would not lust after, we must not gaze upon.

Let’s take stock of our visual consumption. Where does our glance stop and our gaze begin? How about the magazines we read, the television programs we watch, and the videos we rent? Remember Job’s words: “I have made a covenant with my eyes.”

Prayer

Lord, knowing the cost You paid on the cross, please keep me from the second glance that leads to lust. Amen.

To Ponder

If we want to keep our hearts set on God, we must guard our eyes.

 

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