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For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.Eph 2:9 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for collecting daily manna), make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Monday, February 20, 2017
Today's Passage : Subject :Sermon on the Mount - Lust in Your Heart Bible Verse :Matthew 5:27-28 (ESV) "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ”" Message:
As we discussed on Friday, this section of Matthew is informed by Jesus' frightening statement, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” He actually has not abolished the law of Moses; He is making it tougher. So tough, in fact, that people will eventually realize that compliance with it is impossible.
Peeping Tom
The specific illustration of feeding sexual lust by intentionally looking at another person hits a stronger chord with men than women, simply because of human biology. But women can draw their own analogies; and also, it applies to men in situations other than sexual lust. Who has not gone out of their way to tease themselves with temptation? We do it on purpose; we feed our own desire to sin.
Where we purposefully form a sinful desire, even if we restrain ourselves, a sin is committed. Emphasis on inner sinfulness and the necessity of reforming our hearts, rather than simply our actions (as the scribes and Pharisees did), is the key to Christ's early teachings.
One important problem in interpreting these verses is solved by the excellent English Standard Version's translation, “who looks at a woman with lustful intent.” Less accurate translations, with more ambiguous phrasing such as “lust in our hearts”, can be misleading. To sin, we must do something on purpose. We do not sin by an inadvertent stimulation of desire.
So a man who buys a Playboy magazine, or goes to a strip club, or goes to a pool hoping to ogle women in their bikinis, transgresses Christ's teaching. But simply seeing an attractive person and feeling an automatic pang of sexual longing does not. The difference is between seeing and looking. God gave us our sex drive, just as He gave us our hunger for food and our desire to clothe ourselves. If we are overweight and trying to diet, we shouldn't go to a bakery to smell the cupcakes!
Meditation : Prayer : Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that you direct my way unto you, and make me and all of us to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you; to the end that we may establish our hearts unblameable in holiness before you, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Amen |
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