Lust

1-21-2009
Lust

What we expose ourselves to visually certainly leaves in imprint on what we think. In this regard, Wisdom Hunters wrote a great message titled “Visual Accountability.” When we understand the importance of what we see, we will learn to filter our actions.

Visual Accountability… "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matthew 5:27-28

I fight to keep my eyes engaged in images that lead to pure thoughts. Men as a whole struggle around sight with sexual sensations, though women have their own visual challenges related to seeing things they don’t have and wanting them. So Jesus speaks of the allure of lust that comes from obsessing over a woman that is not a man’s wife.

Adultery does not start in the bedroom, but in the heart. If a man’s eye is prone to wander, his heart will follow. It’s an innocent lunch that leads to lust and draws a man or woman into emotional entanglement. Indeed, temptation progresses until it conceives sin. “Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:15). Thus you can stop sin’s encroachment with proactive protection.

David’s lust began when he privately gazed upon a beautiful woman in seclusion. He abused his power by persuading another to compromise her convictions. The more power you have the more you are in need of visual accountability. Who keeps you accountable to keep the portal of your perceptions pure? Like Job, have you made a covenant with your eyes to not look lustfully on another? "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl” (Job 31:1). A covenant requires a commitment to Christ’s standards.

Sometimes it does take extreme measures to not continue down a destructive path. Maybe it means no television for a season, or limited internet access. Give others permission to ask you what magazines or web sites you have been viewing. Mostly make it your passion to love your spouse as God has created them. Accept their love and emotional support, and you will see them as beautiful and appealing. The healthiest marriages never stop romancing and wooing one other. Yes, passionate love precludes alluring lust!

“How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes are doves. How handsome you are, my lover! Oh, how charming! (Song of Solomon 1:15-16a).

Are my eyes an instrument of love or lust? How can I keep in tact visual accountability?

Related Readings: 2 Samuel 11:1-5; Song of Solomon 2:1-17; Matthew 6:22-23