“Don’t look at it!” You have probably heard that warning the past several weeks in connection with not looking directly at the sun during the eclipse with the naked eye. If you do, you may well suffer solar maculopathy (solar blindness).
There is obviously danger found in looking at certain things. Spiritually, this is true as well. Jesus taught, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Matt. 5:29). When it comes to things that tempt us, Jesus’ message is, “Don’t look at it!” Doing so in this regard will be of greater consequence than losing your eyesight – you will lose your soul! Consider some examples and warnings about the need to guard your eyes.
Eve: In the garden, Eve knew “of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die’” (Gen. 3:3). Why then did Eve sin against God in eating the fruit? In part, because she looked at it. The record states, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes…she took of its fruit and ate” (Gen. 3:6). We still live with consequences of this sin today. Eve stands as an example of our principle. When something is going to tempt you to sin, “Don’t look at it!”
Achan: Why did Achan take the gold, silver, and Babylonian garment from Jericho even though God had said not to (Josh 6:18-19)? He said, “When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it” (Josh 7:21). Because of this, Achan and all his family perished (Josh. 7:24-26). Achan’s example speaks to us today – when something is going to tempt you, “Don’t look at it!”
David: All of us are familiar with king David’s sins in regard to Bathsheba – adultery, deceit, lies, and murder. How did all of this begin? “Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold” (2 Sam 11:2). As consequence of his sin, David lost the child he had with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 12:14). David teaches that, when it comes to things that would tempt you to sin, “Don’t look at it!”
In looking at these examples, surely we can see the danger of setting our eyes on the wrong things. We must always be on guard against the lust of the eyes. John warned, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 Jn. 2:15-17). Like the patriarch of old, we need to seek to make “a covenant with our eyes” not to look at things that would tempt us to sin (Job 31:31). Therefore, may our Lord find us having the determination of David expressed in Psalm 101:3: “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes…” If something tempts you, “Don’t look at it!”
What are you looking at?
- – David Eldridge