What has been the focal point of your eyes this week? Think about the images that captured your gaze most frequently. Now here’s the big question: What do those images reveal about your heart?
The second target of temptation is the lust of our eyes (see 1 John 2:16). In our peripheral vision, we see money, jewelry, cars, electronics, houses, clothes, and images of other inanimate objects we are tempted to desire at the expense of Christ. Often times the objects, including other persons, are not evil; rather, our desire for them apart from God is. We move them from the peripheral to the focal point of our eyes.
Recognizing our vulnerability to let our eyes wander, Solomon taught: “Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you” (Proverbs 4:25). Often, we see things we desire apart from Christ, and they look good to us. However, Satan’s strategy is to take us down, bait, hook, line, and sinker.
Solomon clearly communicated the danger of following our eyes without wisdom: “Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are the eyes of man” (Proverbs 27:20). Outside Christ, we always see and want more. Most likely being aware of this verse and having received the personal instruction of Christ, John taught: “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:17). Juxtaposed in this verse are the desires of the world against the will of God. The former provides insufficient and temporary gratification, the latter abundant and eternal satisfaction. The deceitful hook hidden inside the bait is our eyes are never satisfied apart from Christ. We sin when we desire satisfaction apart from Him.
Knowing evil entered through our eyes (see Proverbs 6:25), Satan lifts his line from the waters of temptation and sin to accuse us before God and others.
Jesus revealed the eyes are inextricably linked with the heart (see Matthew 5:28). When a man fixes his gaze on a woman who is not his wife, he desires her in his heart which is an adulterous act.
The sinker is our personal destruction because God hates that sin (see Proverbs 6:17).
What is the focal point of your eyes? When you close them at night, replay the day’s images with God. Ask Him to guide you in determining which images were wise and which ones were foolish. Then pray that God will empower you by His Spirit to focus your eyes on wise images. He will deliver you from temptation and draw you to His design.
Episode 68: Guard Your Heart Against Satan's Schemes from mitchkrusetv on Vimeo.