There goes half of our advertising.
The OTHER half is women staring at women.
Then there is George Clooney staring at goats...
Posted on 04/21/2025 4:10:31 AM PDT by metmom
“‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery”; but I say to you that everyonewho looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart’” (Matthew 5:27–28).
The seventh commandment protects the sanctity of marriage, and anyone who relies on external righteousness to keep it is prone to break it. Just as anger equals murder, lustful desire equals adultery.
In Jesus’ admonition, “looks” indicates intentional and repeated gazing. Therefore He means purposeful looking that arouses lust. In contemporary terms, it condemns a man who sees an X-rated movie, watches a salacious television show, or visits pornographic websites. It encompasses any thought or action done to arouse sexual desire.
Jesus is not referring to accidental exposure to sexual temptation. It is no sin if a man looks away from a provocative scene. It is the continued look that Christ condemns, because that demonstrates an adulterous heart. And by inference this prohibition would apply to women also, who must not gaze at men or dress in seductive ways to elicit stares.
In earliest redemptive history, Job understood these principles: “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? . . . If my step has turned from the way, or my heart followed my eyes, or if any spot has stuck to my hands, let me sow and another eat, and let my crops be uprooted” (Job 31:1, 7–8).
If the adulterous heart gives in to temptation, the godly heart will protect itself, praying, “Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, and revive me in Your ways. Establish Your word to Your servant, as that which produces reverence for You” (Ps. 119:37–38; cf. 2 Tim. 2:22).
Ask Yourself
What could replace your next lustful thought or glance? Instead of focusing on what God has graciously restricted, what blessings, privileges, and freedoms can capture your attention instead?
From Daily Readings from the Life of Christ, Vol. 1, John MacArthur. Copyright © 2008. Used by permission of Moody Publishers, Chicago, IL 60610, www.moodypublishers.com.
Studying God’s Word ping
Thank you for sharing. In this day and age, its tough. Lord help us. Lord help me.
Desire is not the root sin of adultery.
Desire is not even a sin.
Coveting or envy is, however.
There is nothing wrong with desire. I desire lots of good things.
The issue is when desire is twisted or perverted, which is the evil one’s main trick. He cannot create anything. He just takes something good and normal and twists it or exaggerates it.
There goes half of our advertising.
The OTHER half is women staring at women.
Then there is George Clooney staring at goats...
It sure is with our culture saturated with immorality.
Indeed.
Thank you, metmom, for sharing.
“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” 1 John 16, 17
It’s only thru the power of the Holy Spirit that I, for one, can even begin to acheive that. We’re all human and made of body, soul and spirit.
IF one was to draw a line and put the body at one end and our spirit at the other end, the soul makes up the line. The body being our physical being, our 5 senses, etc. The soul being our wants, desires, etc. and, of course, our spirit at the other end desiring to be in sync with the Holy Spirit.
The soul that’s “unanchored” will drift to the body end of the line every time due to the heavy influence of the enemy as mentioned in the above Scripture. The “anchored soul in Christ” will be pulled towards, and become “sync’d with the Spirit of God.
It’s a very simplistic description of a very complex thing. But yeah, the simple “Jesus is my Anchor” saying is a bigger statement than just four words...a LOT bigger.
Hope you had a blessed Easter weekend and upcoming week.
Y3s there are good desires, but, There are evil desires too- the verse is calling out those who’s evil desires for sexual satisfaction are brought to the surface when they lust after a woman or man as the case may be.
It is not wrong for a man to see a woman, or vice versa, and admire the looks 9f that person, and think about what it would be like 5o be in a rela5ionship with that person-
however, it is a sin when the person who’s heart if full of lust looks upon the person with desires to bed the person and fantasizes about the act- their inner sinful desires are coming to the surface in such cases- the other person in that case is just an object of desire used to feed the sinners inner sinful lusts.
There is a fine line between admiring and lusting- and i5s not hard to cross that line if a person feeds their baser desires more and more. Pretty soon it crosses the line and becomes full blown lust- the old saying “garbage in, garbage out” applies here.
God knows our hearts, it’s important that we get to know our hearts as well. It’s no sin to admire, but admiring can turn to lasting if we are not careful, and then lasting becomes an I grained sinful desire that is very hard to break.
I can’t see where we disagree, except I used less words.
I do think it is important to note that desire, in and of itself, is not a sin, as incorrectly stated in the article’s title. It is exaggerated or misplaced desire (coveting, for example) that is the issue.
Rejecting normal healthy human desire is generally associated with Gnosticism and Manichaeism, is in direct opposition to the Christian understanding of the body as a good creation of God.
Well I do think there’s a difference between coveting your neighbor’s wife and watching a sexy movie.
Yep
Psalm 37:4 “...delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart...”
Yes, and we tend to forget - First, there is Mercy too..
+++10 Jesus looked up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said,
“Neither do I condemn you;
go, and do not sin again.+++
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