“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27,28)
Jesus understood the far-reaching importance of our eye. What we let our eye focus on determines whether we will be “full of light” or “full of darkness.” “The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness” (Lk. 11:34).
Our eye can be drawn to what isn’t ours – our neighbor’s car, or house, or wife. At that moment, we are at a crossroads, a decision has to be made. Will we make ourselves blind or will we feed an adulterous eye? Jesus said: “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell” (Mt. 11:29).
Yes, there are many things in this world that could captivate us. Jesus was taken up into a high mountain and shown all the world’s glory. His response: “Get thee behind me, Satan!” So many who refuse to worship God in that moment of temptation, get what the god of this world dangled before them. But what was lost? “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36)
No matter how something eventually turned out, sin is never justifiable. To justify sin on any level is to begin a descent toward apostasy. So you gained the world, but you lost your soul. You lost moral clarity. You lost the ability to know God in truth. Was what you gained – your heart’s desire, the “love of your life,” – really worth it? It would have been better in that initial moment for you to have been blind. Make the decision to not see what the devil wants you to see. Cherish God more.