INTRODUCTION:

Of the battle against lust and immorality we have discussed the followings: "Know The Battle", "Count The Cost Of Failure", "Declare War", and today we are discussing on the topic: "Guard Your Eyes".

MAIN DISCOURSE:

Let's consider what Jesus Christ said, “The light source of the body is the eye". Therefore, If your eye is okay your whole body will be full of light. On the contrary, if your eye is not positively okay, your whole body will be full of darkness” (Matthew 6:22-23).
What exactly did Christ mean by the whole body being filled with light or darkness based on the positive function of one’s eye? In the Bible, light is a symbol that refers to what is righteous, good, and true, and darkness is also a symbol that refers to what is evil, bad, and perverse (consider Ephesians 5:9). Therefore, to have a righteous eye means for a person to continually view what is godly, and also, a bad eye refers to continually viewing what is ungodly. Though the real context of this verse is riches, it can refer to being filled with anything that is good or bad.
The eye ushers in anything to the mind and whatever one’s mind continually reasons, a person will eventually act on it. If one wants to be pure, he must be intentionally on the guard of his or her eyes. This will affect the types of movies watched, books read, and Internet sites visited. It will also affect how one looks at the opposite sex. So many people, when they view the opposite sex, nude pictures, they find it hard to control their thoughts. So their eyes continually trigger the lustful reasons and intentions, and if not combated, these eventually trigger lustful actions, and sexual advances.
You can agree with me that when one views such good or evil things, such a person begins to “fill” what he or she saw. To be filled means to be controlled by. Anyone In Spirit is controlled by it. But anyone in evil, such is full of darkness, that means such are controlled by evil. One's lust, can become out of control, even leading to tragic acts such as sexual harassment, rape, molestation, etc.

Sexual abuse statistics are frightening! One third of women globally experience sexual abuse during their lifetime. One fourth of women, and one sixth of men experience sexual assault within the age of fourteen and eighteen. The major source of the sexual assaults are what the eyes continually viewing.
Can we ask, what is the reason behind sexual abuse? The answer is not far fetched, it is the increased access to erotic material in books, TV, and the Internet. The result of people viewing these materials is that eventually they can’t control themselves—they are filled and controlled by the darkness their eyes continually engage in.

A person whose eyes continually engaged with the Word of God and godly things will be controlled by what he or she sees. Such a person will experience the Fruits of the Spirit which are: love, joy, peace, and self-control as written in Galatians chapter five from verse 22 to 23.

What are you filled with? Are you filling yourself with light which creates righteousness or darkness which creates uncontrollable, evil urges?
The big question remains "How can we practically guard our eyes?"

BOUNCING OUR EYES:

Let us reason with Job about disciplining his eyes. In the book of Job chapter 31 verse 1, Job said, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a lady.” That is to say, in order to remain pure, Job guarded his eyes from looking at a women lustfully. He continued in this discipline for life.
Someone calls it “bouncing” one’s eyes. When you are looking at an attractive lady, instead of cultivating lustful thoughts and intentions, such a man quickly bounces his eyes to another thing instead of continuous looking and meditating. When you see nude and seductive images on the TV or Internet, instead of taking a second and third look, such a person should bounce his eyes by turning the channel or closing the webpage.

I remember a testimony shared with me from one of my friends. He said, sometime when he was in Bible School seeing a young attractive lady, very beautiful and charming. He said "I closed my eyes and prayed to God: 'Lord, that woman is sooooo attractive—she will never get a second look from these eyes.” Such is the type of discipline Job practiced, and it is the type of discipline we must put into practice as well, if we are going be morally pure. Apostle Paul encouraged the Thessalonians to “learn” how to control themselves and their physical bodies in a way that is holy and honorable (1 Thessalonians 4:4). “Bouncing” their eyes in a sexually charged culture (like the city of Thessalonia was one of those paramount disciplines.

HOW ELSE CAN WE GUARD OUR EYES?

PRAYING OVER OUR EYES:

The next discipline we should practice is prayer. King David, was a man who struggled with nude and pornography, he often prayed over his eyes. In Psalm 11:37, he said in one of his prayers: “Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. ”

He prayed that God should turn his eyes from the darkness, and from what is worthless to the light of God’s Word. Therefore, whatever we practice becomes a habit. If we practiced sizing up members of the opposite sex and looking at alluring images, then we will need even more grace to break such habits. Prayer is one of the ways that God uses to change our eyes from being dark to light.
Lord, turn our eyes from what is bad and worthless to what is good.

REFLECTION:

1. Why is it so difficult to guard our eyes in our culture?
2. How long have you been is struggling with your eyes lustfully? In what ways is God calling you to better guard yourself?
3. Do you have other questions or thoughts this post?
4. In what ways can you pray in response to this post? Take a minute to pray as the Lord leads you.