Job 30-31, Acts 13:26-52 • Key Verse: Job 31:1
You have heard the old saying, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Perhaps an appropriate
updated version would be, “Beauty is too often ill the eye of the beholder.” We live in a visually
stimulating age. Gone the way of dinosaurs are black-and-white photographs. Today, graphics
and photos are full-color, eye-catching and often sexy.
Mankind has always struggled with lust, especially lust of the eyes. A beautiful woman named
Bathsheba caught David’s eye, and that first glance became a lustful gaze. Immorality was the
result. Jesus condemned lust in the Sermon on the Mount, saying the person who lusts is
committing adultery in his heart (Matt. 5:28).
As Job wrote in his own defense, listing sins, he knew he didn’t commit, he began by mentioning
what he had done to avoid lustful looking. He made a covenant with his eyes “not to look
lustfully at a girl.” While some say, “What’s the harm in looking?” Job knew that it was wrong.
The look can set the hook, and it’s downhill from there.
Sex sells, so ads are full of sensual images. Television programs and movies are full of sexual
themes. Clothes are made to be enticing. We cannot escape seductive images, but we can
covenant not to look at them.
Are you careful about what you view? Jobs words are forceful for men especially. When your eye
strays for a second look, remember what Job said. And determine right now to enter into the
same covenant.
Woodrow Kroll & Tony Beckett
www.backtothebible.in