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Or They'll Control You!
From Matthew 5: 27 "You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery.' 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.
As we have been discovering, entry into this Kingdom of God requires much change in our thinking and in our doing. Yesterday, Jesus added a new dimension to the Law's commandment about murder; anger is just as bad. And today's passage is about the commandment on adultery. Jesus said, "You know the commandment; don't commit adultery; but here's the thing, we defile ourselves just by thinking lustfully about another person." Our heart gives us away. We are told that we must control our thinking. Natural thoughts are those of desire for some, but Jesus says we should not look at others as objects, but as brothers and sisters, children of God. The passages that follow show the seriousness with which Jesus considers lust and other things that break the letter of the law. What your eye sees is controlled by our thinking. Do we see an attractive person as an object or lust or can we tell our mind to see that person as sister or brother? Kingdom living is rising above the expected and what some excuse as normal. In the same way, our mind can control the actions of our hands; not taking what is not ours or grabbing for that which will draw us deeper into sin. Any of these, Jesus warns, draws us away from God until we face possible eternal separation from God.
Many years ago, a Sunday school teaching, presidential candidate confessed to a magazine that specializes in lust, that he was guilty of having committed adultery in his heart. Some were shocked, some were relieved to hear someone honestly confess that he had lost control of his thinking and had lusted after another in his mind. Jimmy Carter went on to be elected, and today he still is active in his church and in doing good for humanity. Would seeking an office such as president cause us to be as honest? Yet, Jesus is not talking just to politicians; He's talking to us. Much is expected of us who accept a relationship with Him and who desire to enter into the kingdom of God here on the earth, where we pray that God's will be done here as it is in heaven.
The Good News for us all is that Jesus walks with us and provides for us that which empowers us to resist and to control our hearts and minds to be set apart and to a higher standard than that which the world expects from us. The Sermon on the Mount can be said to be a call to rise above.
PRAYER: Loving God, may it be so in my life, in my heart, and in my mind, that I seek You and Your goodness. Control my thoughts and desires. Fill me with Your Spirit and may the Spirit guide me to faithfulness and fruitfulness. This I pray in Christ Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
