But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
When we go to the doctor, we have them look at our vital signs before they look at anything else. They use these vital signs to indicate if there is something going on under the surface that is unseen. We may be surprised to learn our blood pressure is higher than normal or that we have a high fever that was undetected.
Similarly, we have all had moments when we been surprised by our emotions, like bursting into tears when we thought we were okay or going into a rage when we didn’t know how angry we were. At any given moment many things are going on in our hearts: ways we are pursuing sin or God; dreams we are considering; words from others that affect us more than we would like to admit. These things stored up in our hearts affect what we do. This is what Jesus was speaking about when He said in Luke 6:45: “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil person out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”
Impure sexual desires or fantasies may feel private and harmless, limited to the confines of our minds, but Jesus knew these things are connected more than we’d like to admit. Even though it cannot be seen on the exterior, it is like a fever trying to indicate a serious infection or high blood pressure indicating a problem with our hearts. In the same way, we need to pay attention to sinful desires, surrendering them to God before they ever take root into action.
- What sinful desires do you need to surrender to God?
- How can you examine any sin taking root in your heart?
- Pray and surrender the sin that has been rooted or threatens to take root in your heart.
