March 7, 2016
Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:27-30
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
Questions for Reflection:
Jesus began with anger but quickly moves onto an area that has been a struggle throughout humanity. The command around adultery was well known. The religious experts of the day might have been able to claim they had not committed adultery, but Jesus raised the bar again. He pointed out that the goal was not the restraining from unlawful sexual activity but beyond that to a life of purity.
How does Jesus raise the bar for our understanding of how a follower of Jesus conducts his or her life with regards to purity? Jesus’ instruction the dealing of sin is strongly worded. Why does he use such strong language? Don Everts in his book, The Smell of Sin, writes:
“Sin is serious. Jesus may not have been teaching us to pluck out our eyes literally, but he was definitely teaching us to take sin seriously. Very seriously. These images must have shocked and disturbed the disciples just as they do us. Their gore was not a mistake. It was a wake-up call. A “perspective check” that leaves us reeling today, just as it must have left his disciples every time he spoke these words to them…Make no mistake about it, Jesus tells us with clarity through these haunting images, sin is more serious than you might have guessed.”
Our eyes are windows to our souls. Jesus understood that where our eyes go, our imagination and creativity will follow. DA Carson points out, “Imagination is a God-given gift; but if it is fed dirt by the eye, it will be dirty. All sin, not least sexual sin, begins with the imagination.” What actions will you take today to protect your thoughts? To what extent will you go to guard your imagination and creativity? How seriously are you willing to deal with the sin in your life in this area or any other area?