Lust has been a continually sin I have to specifically die to everyday, my flesh and the devil tempt me all the day concerning it especially at my job to gaze upon women with lustful intent. Confessions of trials and sin leads to healing and victory.
So I want to go on this journey on putting to death the deeds of the body by The Holy Spirit namely lust, as I’m more so appealing to fellow men I know women deal with lust as well. However as being a man I know that we are drawn more so psyically than emotionally. We can’t kill this by human wisdom or the flesh but by The Scriptures.
“I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? (a young woman)”
-Job 31:1
As Job said this verse he was going through horrific turmoil, his wife told him to curse God and die and his children were killed along with his livestock destroyed. However the worse torment was that it was if God had hidden His Face from Job to test Him, the man of God can undergo any hellish trial but in the seasons where God withdraws Himself (Psalms 30:7) the affliction and turmoil is much worse and absolutely terrible.
Yet in all this Job is saying he wont go to sin and look upon a woman and lust for her. In trials and weakness we can be more prone to sin, however Job stands on his words and he says I have made a covenant with me eyes to not do evil with my eyes even in these afflictions.
The Hebrew word for covenant is בְּ֭רִית briyth (buh-REETH) meaning to bind, a covenant is an agreement between two parties usually. One could say in more modern terms a vow that one will keep with the other party.
Job is making a covenant with his eyes, with the eye we behold Gods creation. However the eye is not ours it’s given by God, some are born without sight. Job is saying he won’t look upon a woman for lust, as he says: how then could I gaze at a virgin?
He emphasizes how could He? How can I use my God given eyes to do such evil as Joseph said when he was vexed by his masters wife daily to lay with Him:
How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?””
Genesis 39:9
How can I see a woman made in the image of God and gaze upon her as if she is an object and nothing more to satisfy my sinful urges?
Ah how so many men have been disqualified from preaching because they didn’t honor their covenant with their eyes but violated it out of compromise! A glance becomes a stare and a stare becomes a conversation, a conversation becomes confiding in one another about problems in their marriages. Thus leads to a date and thus leads to the bedroom and so sin is conceived and death enters and now they are drunk off each other in sinful lust and violating their marriage covenant!
“The eyes are the windows to the soul; what enters through them will soon shape the heart.”
How we must put to death the deeds of the body! The eyes are a gateway to beholding glory and darkness. We must not only kill sin but we must behold the beauty of Jesus Christ and His Majesty and His indescribable love for us by going to the cross. As Jacob served his uncle Laban for seven years in order to marry his daughter Rachel what seemed like 7 years was only a few days to him. And so I imagine that those hours on the cross Jesus spent was only a few minutes to Him because of His love for us.
If we only make a covenant with our eyes but don’t gaze upon Christ we are in danger of practicing cold mechanical religion like the church at Ephesus, we put off sin because of our love for Jesus and it’s apart of our new nature to worship in Spirit and Truth and obey the commandments of God through His Spirit.
We live in a sexualized culture and making a covenant isn’t something we “ought” to do it’s something we need to do, these eyes I will keep under control, I will not use them for evil! In ancient Jewish culture the eye (Ayin) עַיִן Was seen as the window of the soul what enters through them will shape the heart, and as our Lord said:
Matthew 6:22-23 – “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.”
If you gaze upon what’s wicked you can expect an exceeding darkness in your heart, brethren a simple glance or two plants seeds of lust in your heart. We are to guard our heart above all as the proverb says, our eye is healthy by beholding Christ and not sin. It’s utterly foolish to think “well one look won’t hurt.” Yes the deceitfulness of sin allures us but we must not be bewitched by it. It’s seeks to have you but you must rule over it!
As Thomas Watson said: The “eye, if left unguarded, will let in enemies that the heart cannot easily drive out.”
Another motivator for purity concerning the eye is The Fear of The Lord. Is it no little matter to you that The Lord of Glory is watching everything you do? As our Lord said:
“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.”
Matthew 5:29
We must be radical concerning holiness, the violent take the kingdom of heaven by force! Our eyes are under heavens watch. We must resolve in our hearts to make the covenant with our eyes beforehand and honor it. As John Owens said: “He who guards the eye guards the heart.”
The saints before us didn’t live in a time of digital media and bombardment of entertainment, however more we are in dire need to make a covenant with our eyes. There’s an even more dire urgency than it was years before us compared to the modern age we live in.
It says He with clean hands grows stronger maintaining moral integrity concerning our eyes only helps us in the end, it strengthens our relationship with The Lord. As it says: The Pure In Heart shall see God. Those who close their eyes to sin will open them to glory one day.
Consider that as hard as it can be to turn your eyes from evil sometimes the riches and comfort that you will see once you get to be in heaven with Christ. Our time is but a vapor in sight of eternity, in moments of temptation to violate the covenant with your eyes consider how long eternity is compared to your short time on this side of heaven.
A wandering eye leads to a wandering heart but a guarded eye leads to a steadfast spirit.”
– Matthew Henry
Let us ask The Lord for endurance as we seek to honor Jesus and seek His Kingdom above all.
MY STORY OF RELIGIOUS OCD 