Watch over your mind

Do you know why it is dangerous to watch pornography? The Lord Jesus said:

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 lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27–28)(NASB)

A man lives as he thinks and if he doesn’t learn to control his lusts, he will soon commit the sins he has been thinking about, because as it is written in the Epistle of James:

… each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. (James 1:14–15)(NASB)

Here is how the righteous Job says he acted to not commit adultery in his heart:

I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? (Job 31:1)(NASB)

Job also said:

If my step has turned from the way, or my heart followed my eyes, or if any spot has stuck to my hands, let me sow and another eat, and let my crops be uprooted. If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or I have lurked at my neighbor’s doorway, may my wife grind for another, and let others kneel down over her. (Job 31:7–10)(NASB)

Adultery is an awful sin and the Lord Jesus said:

<sup class=”xref” value=”‘(A)’>If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell. (Matthew 5:29–30)(NASB)

The hand cutting or the torn out of the eye will not solve the problem of immorality, that begins in the mind. The Lord Jesus uses this hyperbole, this intentioned exaggeration to show how grave the sin of adultery is, that brings an eternal punishment after it.

Make a covenant with your eyes to not watch pornography and anything that provokes your mind to adultery.

Translated by Felicia Djugostran