Friday, October 30, 2009
The Look that Damns
(Matthew 5:27-30)
Many years ago a then popular song extolled the joys of “standing on the corner, watching all the girls go by.” The song writer glibly proclaimed, “You can’t go to jail for what you’re thinking.” Maybe so, but you could go to hell for it (29, 30).
Jesus taught that the lustful look is equivalent to adultery, thus intensifying the Old Testament law (28). Heart adultery, according to Jesus, is adultery none the less. As we learned previously, there are no loop holes. The lustful look is the look that damns. Period.
The media knows that sex sells. And in the popular culture, money always trumps morality. That’s why Christians need to be especially vigilant about their entertainment habits. Unfortunately, evangelicalism today takes a far too caviler attitude toward entertainment. Movies, once considered taboo, are common fare for contemporary Christians. And the rating system rarely influences choices. World Magazine, a supposedly conservative Christian publication, dedicates multiple pages to the latest in secular entertainment.
Jesus so warned of the consequences of the lustful look that He advised amputation of the eye or hand if one can not exercise self-control (29, 30). Today we have other means of curbing lustful entertainment: If you can’t honor God with your viewing practices, pull the plug on the cable and cancel your internet service—less drastic than amputation and very effective! Whatever you do, understand that purity in look and thought are a priority with God, and impurity provokes His wrath.
