Day #6: "Optimal Contract"

Job 31:1 says, "I made a covenant with mine eyes why then should I think upon a maid?"

In Job 31, Job is in the midst of accusations from his "friends." In the beginning of the book of Job, we are introduced to Job, a man that God esteemed so highly that God offered Job as a candidate for temptation by Satan. After receiving God's permission, Satan wrecks Job's life. Job loses his wealth, his family, and eventually, his health. Job's friends, in an attempt to console Job, try to think of various reasons that God may have punished Job. Job's friends were guilty of believing that Job's unfortunate circumstances were linked to some sin that Job committed. Job tries to think of every conceivable way to maintain his integrity before the Lord and before his companions. One of the ways in which he does so is stating that he has "made a covenant with [his] eyes" (Job 31:1).  

Although this may appear to be a minor aspect of the litany of ways in which Job tries to maintain his integrity, this one detail stands out to men. Before Job faced any sort of temptation, Job affirmed in his heart and to his God that he would not look upon a woman in an inappropriate manner. As a result of his abstinence of inappropriate staring, Job could not and would not think about a woman inappropriately. Although Job mentioned a woman, the universal principle applies to lustful stares to either women or men.
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Think about it. Job struggled and made this commitment in a much different time than we live. Job didn't have access to the internet. Job didn't have a television in his home. Job didn't have the wealth of information in the palm of his hand because of a smart phone.  Job didn't have all sorts of imagery bombarding him. Job lived in a very different and simpler world, but he still struggled with this universal problem. 

As men, we know this universal struggle as well. The biggest difference is the amount of ways in which we can corrupt our thinking by looking at inappropriate sexual images. If Job, in a primitive world, understood that he could not endure this struggle without limiting what intentionally came across his eyes, how much more should we understand that? Never should God's men be men who let their eyes wander as freely as they please. Never should men of God be so lackluster and cavalier about protecting their eyes. We protect our eyes because what we see becomes what we think, and what we think becomes who we are. Our wives, our children, our families, our churches, and our God deserve men who are disciplined enough to control what we put into our minds. Let us, like Job, make a covenant with our eyes to not look inappropriately upon others.

GOD’S MAN CHALLENGE
"Do not let just anything cross your eyes. Make a covenant with your eyes and with your God to keep a pure gaze!"
 
GOD’S MAN PRAYER
Lord, help me to guard what comes across my eyes. May I never look inappropriately upon another.  AMEN.