*WISDOM FOR TODAY*
*WHEN LOVE IS LOST... (3)*
*Scripture Treasure.*
Matthew 5:28 *but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.*
*Insight and Highlight.*
Love is perfect love. Though lust is often used as an expression of love. A lustful person can not dwell in perfect love.
*Scripture Commentaries.*
Lust, also called lasciviousness, is mentioned fourth to *adultery, fornication, uncleanness....,* in Gal 5:19
Lust is crafty. It is a vice that is always looking for an opportunity to strike.
Jesus' word in Matt 5:28 must be well understood.
First, Jesus is telling us about the depraved state of the human heart.
Jer 17:9 *The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?*
The mouth may not tell a person you are lusting after her, but your heart can tell you. Unfortunately, however, the person you are lusting after can not hear your heart, nor can he or she know it!
Second, Jesus' statement is better understood when interpreted as when a man looks at a woman lustfuly, he will commit adultery with her, if or when the opportunity to do so arises or presents itself to him.
In other words, there is no way you can lust after a woman without seizing the opportunity to sleep with her if or when the opportunity presents itself.
Second, Jesus is saying there is no reason why lust should dwell in your heart. You should dwell in the Spirit. If you do, the flesh will not have power over you, nor will you look at a woman lustfully.
Looking at a woman lustfully is interpreted as a strong sexual desire that will find its expression in adultery. So, you should avoid it.
Looking at a woman lustfully has a willful illicit sexual desire compared to just looking at a woman. So, looking at a woman is different from looking at a woman lustfully.
Looking at a woman is still a condition under your control if you do not look at her lustfully, which will tempt you to fall into your lustful desire.
Paul clearly defines this vice as the lust of our flesh.
He says, in Eph 2:3-5 *"All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath*
*But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,*
*made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.*
He further explains to us that this fleshly lust is still with us because we are in the flesh and tells us that as long as this same flesh lusts against the Spirit and contrary wise (Gal 5: 17), it can rear up its ugly head. He admonishes us that when it does, we must immediately resist it and say no to the inclination of this fleshly lust.
You can resist the devil at this point, and the spirit of lust can depart from you, Jam 4:7.
You can also make up your mind by making a covenant with your eyes that you will not behold anyone lustfuly, Job 31:1
At the above juncture, that is, at the point you are looking, you may not be committing adultery, but at the point you are looking lustfully, you are persisting and are conceiving lust. The sad end is that you will commit adultery when the opportunity arises because it has been in your heart all this while.
It becomes *"....your lust...*, Jam 1: 14-15 says *But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.*
*Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.*
When you look with perfect love, you will not look lustfully.
As you look, do not persist. Look away as if you never saw. If you continue to look, your look could turn to gaze. Your gaze will turn to lust.
Are you looking or looking lustfully?
*Remorse Corner.*
If you look lustfully, you will fall.
Jam 1:16 *Do not err, my beloved brethren.*
*Call to Word action.*
1 John 2:16 *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.*
*The Christian clarion duty.*
Self-control is key. What you do not see can not tempt or entice you. Be focused. Look as if you never see. See, but never lust after.
*Prayer*
Lord, let me see with my eyes, but do not let me lust with them.
Good morning all, and be blessed as you go today.
God bless you
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