In a culture fueled by visual stimulation through countless media outlets and forums, Matthew 6:22-23 is indeed an enormous pill to swallow. It is a tremendous platform to identify how the church of Jesus Christ is suffering mightily at gaining self-control over lust of the eyes. Countless men and women struggle to find contentment in their marriage, employment, home, family, personal appearance, net worth, purpose in life, physical health, spiritual well-being, etc., and the eyes play a significant role in this battle. "For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world" (1 John 2:16). Far too often, we fail to realize how the majority of temptations we face first begin through our eyes. Look no further than our children as proof that what a child first sees is then repeated and emulated. In theory, if the behavior they see is healthy, we need to reinforce it with affirmation and encourage repetition. However, if we feel the behavior is inappropriate, we must admonish and correct it before it becomes habitual. That is why Scripture affirms, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6), yet many of us can look back upon the history of our lives and see where proper training fell short or was simply non-existent. Seeds of deception and false security took root at an early age, and we have since struggled mightily to gain some semblance of self-control through the years.
Considering the most popular personal temptations we face, how often do we turn away from that which we know leads only to sin? First, we must recognize our weaknesses. If we cannot pinpoint who or what our temptation is, when and where it occurs, how it manifests itself, and why we fall victim to failure, we will never gain self-control over our sin. Second, we must recognize the source of temptation in our lives. Often times, we look outside ourselves with the intent to point our fingers at something or someone external who is the cause of our shortcomings. To admit we are our own worst enemy forces us to acknowledge we are not perfect, but sons and daughters of Adam born into sin. That is why Scripture declares, "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death" (James 1:13-15). Admission is always the first step we must take if we desire healing and restoration from the bondage of sin in our lives, because it recognizes who the source of failure is. However, admission is only effective when we desire heart change and freedom. Similar to the faith/works metaphor, we cannot be content to admit we are sinners with no intent to change our behavior. For if we confess our sin but immediately return to it, are we not fooling ourselves by thinking we are changed simply because we admitted we have a problem?
Confession is a critical factor in the process of change and restoration. Once we admit we have a problem, we can take the next step by confessing our sin to God and those we have directly sinned against. But is that truly enough? For instance, if a man admits he is an adulterer and confesses his sin to God and his wife, does that mean he is changed? It depends completely on what happens next. If he continues to cheat on his wife, then we must recognize that true heart change never occurred to begin with—he simply went through the motions to appease his judge and jury to either minimize or completely escape the consequence of his actions. Keep in mind that confession is only one step in the process of repentance and not an all-encompassing end in and of itself. The proof is in the fruit. "Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water" (James 3:12). In other words, whichever seed is planted in our hearts—sin or righteousness—will take root, grow, and bear a specific and identifiable fruit. We can attempt to manipulate the external appearance of the fruit to deceive others, but our hypocrisy will be revealed the moment our core is exposed. For example, if true heart change was identified only as an apple but the fruit we produced was an orange, there would be undeniable proof that change did not occur. The proof is found at the heart level, for Scripture declares, "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 'I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds'" (Jeremiah 17:7-10).
The beauty of Jesus identifying the eye as the lamp of the body is to emphasize that choices can be made. We have free will to choose what we allow our eyes and hearts to dwell upon. That does not ignore we have a sin nature planted in us at birth, but it does allow us to gain victory over sin before temptation takes root and fills us with darkness. Jesus earlier proclaimed in His sermon on the mount, "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell" (Matthew 5:29-30). Therefore, if our eye, our hand, or whatever else causes us sin, we must be ready and willing to amputate in order to save ourselves from destruction altogether. The challenge comes in justifying healthy portions of our behavior to offset unhealthy ones. A man who struggles with attaining success and status at his place of employment can justify his workaholic behavior because he has to provide for his family; or a youth who struggles with addiction to pornography can justify keeping his computer because he needs it for school; or a woman who struggles with gossip can justify her behavior because she is the prayer coordinator at church. Jesus said, "Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!" (Matthew 18:7). Therefore, it is imperative we take ownership over the condition of our heart's darkness and allow the light of the Spirit to illuminate our way of escape unto righteousness, as opposed to allowing darkness to shine forth from our hearts to corrupt and pollute others.
What we must embrace is honesty, for a man or woman who is not willing to be brutally honest will continue to live in deception. If we struggle identifying our heart's condition, perhaps we should consider the following scenarios in order to understand and gauge how easily our eyes are compromised when we allow opportunities for darkness to take root.
- A man watches a football or basketball game and the camera zooms in on the cheerleaders or dance team for 10-15 seconds.
- A woman goes out to dinner with her quiet and disengaged husband and is easily distracted by the sight of other couples engaging in conversation.
- A youth attends a party and witnesses his friends drinking alcohol and encouraging him to indulge despite being underage.
- A couple sits down and watches a movie laced with perverse language, nudity, sex, violence, etc.
- A woman flips through a beauty or clothing magazine and compares herself to models who portray a certain image she desires.
- A man disengages at the end of a long day to play video games rather than spend quality time with his family.
In each scenario, we see how temptation is woven into the reality of life where choices we make can easily lead to darker paths. They key is paying particular attention to what we expose our eyes to and how we avoid tempestuous situations altogether, or respond unto righteousness when avoiding the situation is not an option. For just as Job said, "I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high?" (Job 31:1-2), we must also decide to hold firm to our confession of faith and application of God's Word regardless of circumstance. Job could easily have thrown in the towel when all he treasured in this world was stripped from him, but he chose to obey the Lord and decide not to allow eternal influences (calamity, irrational feelings or poor counsel) to sway his judgment. Giving account to the Lord on judgment day was more important than momentary satisfaction by giving in to fleshly desires to escape or blame-shift. What we must learn from Job's example is that stress, anxiety, fatigue, disappointment, frustration, etc., all have the power to alter our vision when temptation is given more consideration and dishonorable habits and vices provide a momentary escape from reality in an attempt to ease or dull the pain. For being "comfortable" or "happy" is not our purpose in life—being content in the Lord's will and provision for our lives is! Therefore, we must maintain proper perspective and understand that if we allow our eyes to become lazy and unguarded, our body will be corrupted and darkness will have free reign to compromise all that Jesus shed His blood to destroy. "Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it" (1 Corinthians 10:12-13).
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