Guard Your Heart: Lust & Adultery

Jesus doesn't condemn our sexual desires even when those desires are provoked by unexpected or unwelcome temptations. And, notice how Jesus doesn't blame women for causing lust, and he doesn’t blame the culture or any external force. We become guilty, even of adultery, when we fan those flickers into flame. It's when we deliberately engage our will in the pursuit of lust. Martin Luther said it this way: "You can't prevent the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair." I think that's a great picture of lust. We think sin happens at the end of a process that looks something like this: we think desire turns into intent, and then that turns into action. Religious people are obsessed with the action. The Pharisees during Jesus' day were obsessed with the outward, visible sin. We think sin is in the action. If we can modify behavior, then we can defeat sin. But Jesus says no. There's something happening before the action ever takes place. Jesus says to DESIRE NO EVIL. Jesus says sin can start all the way back at the beginning when a desire that may be good and holy from God gets twisted and partnered with an unrighteous intent.