You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matthew 5:27-28
It is sadly true of this culture at this time that Jesus’ clear warning about how sexual sin devastates at the heart level is entirely ignored. It is so bad that the kinds of behaviors that would once have been publicly decried even by unbelievers are now explained away quite awkwardly and unbiblically among Christians. A political figure on a talk show brags about playboy conquests and NEVER publicly repents of that sort of talk? We waive it off as an imperfection from younger days and tell people he is still our best champion for religious rights. A pastor or televangelist’s latest tryst raises eyebrows? We step around it and talk about the need to forgive and restore.
I’m all for Jesus forgiving the worst things we do. He does redeem from sexual sin. But I am not in favor of a casual treatment of Jesus’ own words on sin right here in His magnum opus Sermon on the Mount! Sexual sin starts in the heart, scars the heart, callouses the soul. And in a world that is now so openly pro-porn, pro-sexual exploration, pro-sensuality of ANY KIND, and anti-Jesus on these matters, we need to heed the warning of Jesus all the more! Looking to lusting is already a major sexual sin. Inciting a passion not meant for anything other than private expression in monogamous, heterosexual marriage for life will lead to awful consequences. Sexual sanctity and sanity is guarded at the heart.
Lord,
You know my heart and I pray that I will heed Your words in the online, all-the-time, entertainment-driven, cultural sludge that seeks to incite lust… help me stand true to you… to my marriage… to my heart!
Amen
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