“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 ESV
Former President Jimmy Carter in an interview with Playboy magazine during the 1976 Presidential campaign admitted the following; he had “looked upon a lot of women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something God recognizes I will do — and I have done it — and God forgives me for it.” (1) Then candidate Jimmy Carter was brutally honest with himself and the public to his understanding of Jesus’s teaching of the seventh commandment, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’
As in the sixth commanded where Jesus condemns anger and hate aligning it with murder as a matter of the heart; He now equates looking with lustful intent (impure desires) with the act of adultery. Yes, God will forgive us for breaking this commandment as we confess it to Him, but the seriousness of this sin is not to be overlooked. Jesus continues by adding, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.” (Mt. 5:29esv) The use of such a graphic illustration by our Lord indicates His desire for us to realize the severity of the consequences of our impure desires. Jesus is not advocating to maim ourselves. But as Charles R. Erdman states, “He warns against allowing any occasion for evil thought. No matter how great the sacrifice involved, one must put out of his life all that might cause him to be tempted needlessly, anything which might endanger the purity of his soul.” (2)
We come across many opportunities every day and every hour to be taken in by temptation permitting impure desires to emerge. What do you need to sacrifice in your daily life to limit unsuspecting temptations? What habits can you form to steer you away from areas where you are vulnerable to impure desires? How might daily reading of God’s Word and private time in prayer with Him help you?
Jesus’s teaching is straight and to the point. He doesn’t mince words and He provides solutions to our reoccurring sin problems including impure desires. May we heed His teaching.
(2) Charles R. Erdman, “The Gospel of Matthew” (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983), p 58.
Word for the Soul 