lustful looking

Note: I’m going to be out of the country for a few days, so I won’t be posting until I get back. Please rejoin me on June 6!

It’s easy to forget that I’m never alone. When I make those choices I think no one will ever know about, God knows.

Job put it this way, in Job 31:1-4: "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman. For what is our lot from God above, our heritage from the Almighty on high? Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong? Does he not see my ways and count my every step?”

One nice thing about getting older is that either I’m learning more control, or my appetites have moderated, but ignoring the flashy, sexy bait the world trolls in TV ads, movies and on the street is easier than it used to be. I worry sometimes for my sons and grandsons; I don’t get the current feminist expectation that women can dress however they want and men just better keep their eyes to themselves. And the boundaries of pop culture are changing constantly, so that challenging images can pop up on the side of a bus or in a window display at the mall.

For me, though, my lustful looking these days is more likely to be aimed at other people’s stuff. I’m way more likely to want another man’s car or cell phone than I am a woman not my wife. That’s partly because Dawn is not only perfectly suited to me, but also beautiful. But it’s also because I give myself permission to covet those other things.

Job’s point, though, is this: God knows what goes on inside my head. He knows when I stop thinking like Jesus and start thinking like the world. He knows when I objectify a woman or make objects the center of my life. And it offends him as much as if I acted on my thoughts.

Be careful, little eyes, what you see. Sight leads to thoughts which lead to desires that lead to sin, which leads to death. God sees my ways, Job says, and counts my every step. It’s amazing that he still loves me.