Saturday, February 14, 2015

Your Heart Will Follow Your Eyes

READ Job 31-32

Men, let’s face it, we have a problem. We are tempted to look at things we should not look at. It’s a major problem. And now we are learning that women have “evolved” and sunk to our level also. I read recently that one out of every three viewers of porn on the web is a woman. And the new series of books and just released film called “50 Shades of Grey” are strong evidence of the problem of pornography among women. So I guess we aren’t surprised to see that men in Job’s day had to face the same problem.

He begins his final defense in Ch. 31 with: ““I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” Job recognized his own need to be diligent and vigilant in avoiding the temptation of looking at things he should not. He knew there was a danger in this that far exceeded a look of the eyes that many would call harmless.

What was that danger? He tells us. “If my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes….” (1:7). There it is in full relief. The danger of sinful looking is that our hearts will follow our eyes. We will begin to want the thing that we are gazing on. Our focus will determine our desire. Before we know it, our own wife will not be satisfactory for us and we will seek other avenues that will lead us into deeper sin.

So where do we start? Job started with his eyes. He made a covenant with them. He refused to look. You can do that too, brothers. You can resist the temptation with God’s grace and power helping you (Phil 2:13). Now do it (Phil 4:13)!

Prayer: Father, help me and my brothers to make a covenant with our eyes. Help us to remember that we are bought with a price, the precious blood of our Savior, and that we have been made righteous in Him. Help us to live as those who are as righteous as the Lord Jesus.

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