Friday February 17th, 2023
Meditate on: Colossians 3:5 NLT
« So put to death the sinful, fleshly desires lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. »
Read: Matthew 5:27-29 English Standard Versions (ESV)
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 lustful intent 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. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
Understand:
Today’s Bible reading reveals a unique characteristic of the New Covenant taught by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Under the old covenant of the Mosaic Law (Old Testament law), a person could not be accused of sexual immorality, such as fornication or adultery, unless he or she was caught in the act by at least two or three witnesses. This was the strong basis on which the scribes and Pharisees called for the execution of the woman caught in the sin adultery in John 8:2-11.
John 8:4-5 says:
« They say to Him, Master, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such person should be stoned: but what do You say? »
Those who follow the Lord’s teaching with an open heart will understand His answer to this question posed by the scribes and Pharisees. Indeed, Jesus came not to condemn but to redeem those under the yoke of sin.
Nevertheless, His standard says that one can be guilty of sexual immorality even without sleeping with someone other than his or her spouse.
In fact, according to Jesus, one need not be caught in the act of immorality before being declared guilty of it.
By the lord’s standard, what is referred to in common parlance as “mere looking” is enough to be adjudged to have committed sexual immorality.
This is food for thought for us in the Body of Christ today.
When we promote the lust of the eyes by allowing immoral dressing in the church, we are actually exposing members of the Body of Christ to sexual immorality, even when they don’t engage in the act physically.
A member of the choir dressed seductively to lead praise and worship will definitely leave the congregation worse off than before they came to church.
This is not a question of legalism but following divine principles established by the Lord Himself.
The sin of sexual immorality and perversion is prevalent in the world we live in today because of the ease of access to the virtual world of the internet, where pornography is common place.
Nowadays, people can have a voice or video chat with a member of the opposite sex a world away, committing all manner of immorality with them.
In the world today, we even have the perversion called sex dolls of various makes and models meant to further promote a terrible kind of self-delusion. In a nutshell.
Satan and his agents have devised various ways of luring people into sexual immorality without having any contact with a real human being (masturbation/ pornography).
As children of God living in these perilous times, we must not become victims of these evil.
As instructed by our Lord in Matthew 5:29, we must be ready to give it all it takes to mortify our bodies to sexual immorality.
You need to “pluck out your eye”, represented by internet websites, TV programs and social gatherings that make you susceptible to sexual immorality internally.
May God honor your sincere efforts by giving you strength of character in your inner man in Jesus’ Name.
Action point: Pluck out the eye of sexual immorality by cutting off links to things and people who make you vulnerable to it.
Author: Pst E. A. Adeboye
Edited by Naomie
Freely you received, freely you must give (Math 10:8) , kindly share this devotion, and the Lord will bless you for it ♥
