Daily Bible Reading Monday 27th May 2024
by William Moody
Matthew 5:27–30
Lust
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. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
(ESV)
“You shall not commit adultery.” Exodus 20 v14.
With the breakdown of so many marriages and the casual attitude today to sexual relationships, this commandment is so necessary. All sexual relationships outside of a marriage between one man and one woman are sinful and are condemned by God. All sin will be judged one day.
Like the previous commandment about murder, the seventh commandment about not committing adultery (v14) also applies to what we do in our hearts (see Matthew 5 v27-28).
Keeping the heart and mind pure is a great challenge but something we need to take very seriously because believers share their thoughts with the Holy Spirit who lives within us.
Paul teaches that sexual immorality must not even be mentioned among God’s people (Ephesians 5 v3-5). We’re to have no part with the ‘unfruitful deeds of darkness’. Immorality is not to be a source of our entertainment in what we read in newspapers and books or what we watch for entertainment on our televisions. Instead we must focus on what is pure (see Phil. 4 v8).
Is it time for you to confess to the Lord where your eyes, mind and actions have been sinful in this regard?
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