TOPIC: Lustful eyes
From the book Faith Walk, by Woodrow Kroll & Tony Beckett: You have heard the old saying, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Perhaps an appropriate updated version would be, “Beauty is too often in the eye of the beholder.” We live in a visually stimulating age. Gone the way of dinosaurs are black-and-white photographs. Today, graphics and photos are full color, eye-catching and often sexy.
Mankind has always struggled with lust, especially lust of the eyes. A beautiful woman named Bathsheba caught David’s eye and that first glance became a lustful gaze. Immorality was the result. Jesus condemned lust in the Sermon on the Mount, saying the person who lusts is committing adultery in his heart (Matt. 5:28).
As Job wrote in his own defense, listing sins he knew he didn’t commit, he began by mentioning what he had done to avoid lustful looking. He made a covenant [promise or pact] with his eyes “not to look lustfully at a girl.” While some say, “What’s the harm in looking?” Job knew that it was wrong. The look can set the hook, and it’s downhill from there.
Sex sells, so ads are full of sensual images. Television programs and movies are full of sexual themes. Clothes are made to be enticing. We cannot escape seductive images, but we can covenant not to look at them.
Are you careful about what you view? Job’s words are forceful for men especially. When your eye strays for a second look, remember what Job said. And determine right now to enter into the same covenant.