READING:
January 27, 2022
Covenant with My Eyes
Job 30:1-31:40
As a professor and pastor (and, frankly, as one who grew up in home filled with it), I know the agonies pornography brings. What seems so innocuous at the time can become powerfully addicting—never fully satisfying, and always leaving us wanting more. It focuses entirely on the self, and it objectivizes other human beings created in the image of God. It tends to promote hiddenness that only increases the isolation and defeat of believers wrestling with its power. And, very, very few men I know live in victory over this lure without a deliberate, heartfelt commitment to do so.
Job made that kind of commitment: “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman” (Job 31:1). Using the image of a strong agreement—a covenant—Job said he and his eyes agreed together they would not look lustfully on a woman. The cost in the context of his relationship with God would be too high. It could lead to lustful adultery, “a fire that burns all the way to hell” (Job 31:12). Simply stated, lust destroys; as Job put it, “it would wipe out everything I own” (Job 31:12). Hence, Job committed his heart to take any necessary steps to avoid it.
We should learn from Job what it takes to win this battle: an overwhelming desire to please God, recognition of very real consequences, intentionality to avoid the sin, and accountability before others. May you and I today make the same covenant Job made. The risk is too great if we don’t.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Is lust an issue in your life? If so, talk with another believer you trust today.
TODAY’S PRAYER: “God, keep my mind pure and my eyes focused on You today.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Job 32:1-34:37
