It’s the elephant in the room that too many try to ignore.
I’m talking about something that church people don’t want to talk about.
Sometimes, we assess our spiritual lives with a flashlight mentality, looking at things we want to see.
But when we throw the “Light” switch by asking God’s Spirit to reveal every corner of our hearts and minds, for some believers there stands the elephant with an “I’m bigger and stronger than you” smirk on its face.
I’m talking about the elephant of lust.
Yes, God equipped men and women with the tools and inclination for sexual expression.
But He also provided men and women with the ability to define boundaries that honor Him and reserve the gift for spouses.
The problem is that people — including Christians — sometimes ignore God’s boundaries and blindly think that God won’t notice that they’ve let an elephant take up residence in the room of their lives.
You’ve heard that a surprisingly high percentage of Christians struggle with pornography, and not just men.
And you’ve heard that the percentage of Christians caught up in adultery, even in a fantasy sense, is not much different from the unsaved world.
Listen, Satan will use any trap he can to prompt a sinful choice. And since he’s got such a high success rate over the centuries when he uses sexual temptation, he’s not going to stop any time soon.
Job was not a young man when he wrote the words below, yet he knew then — even in the midst of rampant attacks by Satan on his health — that he had to resist any temptation involving sexuality since they somehow can squeeze the elephant through the eyes and into the heart.
“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a virgin. For what is our lot from God above, our heritage from the Almighty on high? Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong? Does he not see my ways and count my every step?” (Job 31:1-4).
It’s true that Job’s wife was not the model spouse. I’m sure glad the Lori isn’t like her.
And there’s no doubt that an unhappy marriage increases vulnerability to lustful temptation.
But that’s no excuse.
In fact, there’s never an excuse for letting an elephant move into your house.
Promise your eyes, my friend, that you’ll protect them from becoming partners in moral crime.
As Paul wrote to Timothy regarding lust, “Flee!”
It’s something I have to do as a soul maintenance strategy since I KNOW God is counting my every step.
If I’m going to protect my family, my friends and my ministry from the disaster that my moral failure would cause, I’ve got to keep my promise to my eyes.
I pray that you’ll do the same.
As always, I love you
Martin
