Extremes and Degrees
Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}
FOR TODAY'S FULL READING, CLICK THE TITLE LINK ABOVE.
- S: "You're familiar with the command to the ancients, 'Do not murder.' I'm telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother 'idiot!' and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell 'stupid!' at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill. [vv 21-22a] "You know the next commandment pretty well, too: 'Don't go to bed with another's spouse.' But don't think you've preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices—they also corrupt. [vv 27-28] If you want to live a morally pure life, here's what you have to do: You have to blind your right eye the moment you catch it in a lustful leer. [vs 29b] And you have to chop off your right hand the moment you notice it raised threateningly. [vs 30a]
- O: Sin begins with the mere thought of committing the act. How we react to the temptation to sin is of paramount importance.
- A: The city is full of temptation. You literally cannot go anywhere without encountering a pawn of the devil meant to tempt you into sin. I have frequently heard people say, "It's okay to look as long as you don't touch." Really? Or is looking just the preamble to touching? By looking, don't we just build in ourselves a stronger desire to touch? Even fantasize about the touch? Christ has clearly told us that there are no degrees of sin. Looking at a person with lust is the equivalent of committing the adulterous act in our fantasies. Hating a person, in the eyes of God, is as great a sin as actually committing the murder of that person. The distance between the extremes is zero. Though the devil's pawns will try to tell us "it's just a little white lie," the lie is as bad as stealing. There are no degrees of sin. To lie or steal, to hate or murder, to lust or commit adultery -- they all are sins for which we need God's forgiveness. Does Christ really mean we should blind our right eye or cut off our hand? Likely not. It is our reaction to the temptations of the world that allows us to resist them and avoid sin. When that woman (or man) in the revealing clothes flaunts her way past you, you "blind your right eye" by averting your attention. Look away at the first discovery of the approaching temptress. Don't give her -- or the devil -- the satisfaction of even a momentary glance. Because at the first lustful look, you have made yourself guilty of the act. Looking is not okay. Looking is as bad as actually touching. By standing firm on our principles, we resist temptation, we avoid sin, we please the Lord, we thwart the devil, we can hold our heads high, and we display to the world our commitment and devotion to our spouse.
- P: Father, make me strong in resisting temptation, and use the strength as a testimony to You for all who see.
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