They say that the window to the soul is through the eyes. What would a man's soul consist of if all he saw was lust? Jesus dealt with this very issue next:
"You have heard it said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.'" Matthew 5:27, NKJV
Jesus quotes the Ten Commandments again. He always seems to go to a place that is familiar to man (or at least the men of this time). Jesus goes to the Ten Commandments not to redefine, but to rather help us better understand the heart of God. The commandment is pretty cut and dry, there is no question that the Jew, or the born again believer, should not commit adultery.
Jesus gives us a closer look at the heart of God:
"But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Matthew 5:28, NKJV
The things that the Lord tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, challenge our walk with the Lord. Do not even look at a woman with lust. The mind and heart has a tendency to absorb all that they eyes view. Just think of it like a television. It's about six in the evening and a commercial for McDonald's comes on. Your stomach starts to growl and you get something to eat. The commercial is specifically designed to trigger hunger. Lust and sex are the same way. You lust after a woman, your mind begins to play out scenarios of you and her together. Tell me that I am wrong.
There is a solution, however.
"If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell." Matthew 5:29-30, NKJV
The perfect solution is to pluck and cut. These are very interesting words that the Lord uses. Pluck has the idea to "be plucked" as well as to "deliver or rescue". And the word cut can of course mean "to cut" but it can also be used in metaphor "to cut off occasion". Jesus did not literally mean to pluck out the eyes or to cut off the hands. The idea is to remove oneself from that situation. If lust is a problem for yourself, do not go to the beach where girls wear small bikinis or walk into a liquor store that sells pornographic material.
It is great to be accountable, but what happens if you do not have that accountability? Who is going to rescue you? You! You must be the one to pluck your own eye out. You must be the one to cut your own hand off.
There are ways to avoid these situations. Do not go where you know that sin will be. Also, read your Bible and pray everyday. The mind and heart tend to absorb whatever the eyes look at. If you read everyday, you will become more Christ minded.
No comments:
Post a Comment