WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?

Many of my Freedom Fighter entries come right from my own personal quiet
time and what God is showing me in my own walk and relationship with
Him. This week I have been reading in my daily devotional Bible, from
the book of Job.

I came across this verse which I have read numerous times, but in The
Message, the clarity of the message hit me "right between the eyes."
Job, a man whom God described as one of the most righteous and blameless
men who walked the earth, penned these words: "I have made a solemn pack
with myself never to undress a girl with my eyes." (Job 31:1)

Now some of you will have a hard time with the bluntness of this
statement from the pen of Job, but it almost seems like he has stepped
foot into the 21st century and with great accuracy described where many
of us find ourselves in our world. The media and advertising gurus have
spent billions of dollars to entice and encourage us to look at women in
a perverted and lustful way. Forget about spending a buck on porn - we
just have to drive down the highway to see gigantic billboards that show
scantily-clad women sprawled across the billboard. Or you can turn on
the TV, open a newspaper, magazine, or store advertisement, and find
yourself with an eyeful of temptation.

The advertising philosophy is to get you and me to look so that we will
desire and act on our desires. I think that they have learned the truth
of advertising right from the Word. Remember the verse I shared with you
the other day from James 1:14: "But each one is tempted and enticed when
he is carried away by his own lust ..." King David understands the
concept - it all started with a look! The lust of the eyes is a powerful
thing and must be brought under the Spirit's control.

Imagine yourself standing in an art gallery and observing one of the
world's most magnificent paintings of one of the most beautiful gardens
in the world. You are all alone and your eyes are taking it all in. You
even find yourself stepping into that garden so that you can feel the
grass beneath your feet, smell the lush pine-scented air, feel the
warmth of the sun beating on your skin.

Without you even knowing it, someone walks up alongside of you and after
several minutes says: "What are you looking at? A penny for your
thoughts!" What would you tell him? Most of us would flip him off with a
comment like, "just looking at the picture." Come on now, be honest!
Would you describe in detail what you are seeing, thinking, or doing?"

Now let's go to the verse I shared at the beginning of the email. What
are you looking at when you see that beautiful women on the billboard,
on the TV, in the magazine? Or what about when you are at the Mall or
the grocery store and that women walks by not appropriately attired? Are
we looking at her with Superman's x-ray eyes? We THINK know what knows
what we are really doing - except Job drives the nail in the lid of our
coffin by making this statement: "Isn't God looking, observing how I
live? Doesn't He mark every step I take?"

Next time you are tempted to look, think about this: HE'S STANDING THERE
RIGHT BESIDE YOU LOOKING WITH YOU - and even more, KNOWING what you are
thinking. Allow the Holy Spirit to ask the question: "What are you
looking at?"

Good words to consider.

Great quote: "The Spirit of God works through the Word of God in the
life of the child of God for the glory of God."
Pastor Mike Woods