November 6: Matthew 5 27-30

Key Verse: Matthew 5 28
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Devotion:
Again, Jesus expands on this commandment to give a further insight into God’s meaning when He gave this to the people of Israel. There are quite a few places in the bible which go further than this and warn people about putting aside their partner so they can join with another partner; but this has to start somewhere, and Jesus gives us the answer here. If we go looking or lusting after others when we are already promised to another, we are corrupting our hearts with those thoughts; it is those thoughts which may lead us to do something like putting away our current partner because we think we see someone better!

If we rush into a partnership with anyone without thinking about it, we may well find out things we do not like about that partner after a while – God would rather we take our time and consult Him in any relationship so we don’t have to find out things which tear that relationship apart later on. God is going to guide us and to teach us in our relationships, so long as we are willing to listen to what He has to say.

No matter how much we think a relationship is the right one, we are going to have hiccups or points in that relationship which make us think otherwise. God is willing to help us understand those relationships and learn to live and grow in them; keeping God at the centre of any relationship will allow us to stay strong and stay focused. They key being we have to keep God with us in that relationship. When we don’t, we start to focus on what the world says and the ways of the world rather than God’s ways.

The Israelites had a much stricter view on men looking at women than we do in Western society and this is what Jesus is intimating at. It was not lawful for a man to look at (stare or look longing at) not matter whether he was single, married or any other state of mind – this was judged to be the root cause of adultery and stopping it before it got that far was their aim.

Points to Ponder:
Do you look longingly at others?

Do you respect God enough to stop doing that?