A study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2006 revealed that children who watch media with high levels of sexual content tend to be more sexually promiscuous. Researchers studied 1,017 adolescents, ages 12 to 14, over a period of 2 years. During that time, the teenagers were tracked as they took in varying amounts of sexual content in movies, TV shows, music, and magazines.
The survey found that teens exposed to a high amount of sexual content were 2.2 times more likely to have had intercourse between the ages of 14 and 16 than other teens with less exposure. This research confirms what Augustine said long ago: “By one’s gaze . . . lustful . . . desires arise.” I believe this is the reason Job made a covenant with his eyes not to go there.
Job believed that he was living before a holy God who numbered his steps and ordered his life. For him, this meant living a life of purity and the pursuit of personal holiness. He affirmed his moral purity by recalling a personal commitment that affirmed what he would and would not look at. In particular, he professed moral purity in guarding his eyes and avoiding sexual lust. Jesus taught this same principle in the New Testament (Matthew 5:28).
Because our eyes can be channels of sexual temptation and lust, like Job, we need to make a covenant with them. This means guarding our eyes against all kinds of evil (Psalm 101:3), living lives of discipline and self-control (1 Thessalonians 4:4-5), and submitting to the Holy Spirit for direction and empowerment (Galatians 5:16-21).
It also includes living like “temporary residents and foreigners” who are waiting for our endtime inheritance (1 Peter 2:11), and fighting temptation and pursuing what is right in community with other committed believers in Jesus.
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Jonah 1:1–2:10
More:
Read Genesis 39:6-12 to see how one young man handled sexual temptation and lust.
Next:
Why is it so important to guard our eyes against sexual temptation? What do you need to do to make a covenant with your eyes, so that you live a life of moral purity before our heavenly Father?
lindagma on June 3, 2011 at 6:40 am
We need only look back to the 50’s and 60’s when TV programs had married couples in twin beds… and what we see on TV now. Satan introduces things a little at a time and waits for us to “get used to it” and then introduces a little bit more. When we sin the first time, we pull back…if we do it again, it’s not quite as shocking…do it again and it’s almost acceptable..until there’s no hesitation. Of course teenagers who watch sexual acts on TV their whole lives are going to have minds seared and accepting of like behavior.
Have you ever noticed, when you are exposed to something sexually explicit..whether a commercial, surfing through channels, etc. that it sticks in your mind and you keep seeing flashbacks. It’s a battle out there and we must be diligent in our quiet time to guard against satan’s attack.
marvin williams on June 3, 2011 at 4:10 pm
lindagma, my wife and I were just talking about how modest television was back then. The first example that came to mind is the Dick Van Dyke show. What else can we do to guard our hearts and minds? Do we get rid of the television altogether? We have surely talked about it. How can we help our children as well as ourselves think Christianly/theologically about media, movies, magazines, and social media, etc. We are so vulnerable in this area. Therefore, we need to be more diligent to make an everyday covenant with out eyes.
daisymarygoldr on June 3, 2011 at 8:08 am
Thanks Marvin, for the much needed reminder to make a covenant with our eyes! The very first sin was a sin of the eyes. Eve saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious. And the rest of course as we all know—is history. “What I see is what I want” is so true when I go shopping. And especially because I am a woman, I had to make a covenant with my eyes in order to guard my thought life.
Since we are ‘in’ the world, it is impossible not to notice sexual content being channeled into our homes through the media. Lust of the eyes leads us into a fantasy world of entertainment that distracts us from the work that God has called us to do. To get the work done, horses wear blinders that keep them focused on what is in front. As Believers, we need to cover our eyes with the spiritual blinders of God’s word to stay single-minded. Purity is nothing but single-mindedness for doing God’s will.
Jesus came to do God’s will and set a perfect example by refusing to be enticed by the devil that showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. He overcame the temptation by the power of the written Word. As His followers, we must also cling to the Word and place them as frontlets between our eyes (Deut 11:18 NKJV). Jesus teaches us to go to extremes to “see no evil” in order to guard our eyes from causing us to sin (Matthew 5:29).
Eyes are the windows of the soul. What our eyes see affects our whole body—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I agree the covenant includes living like “temporary residents and foreigners”. Abraham sojourned as a stranger and lived in tents because his eyes were fixed above on that city whose builder is God. Unlike him, Lot took a long look at the fertile plains and settled near Sodom. He is a good lesson about what happens when we are lured by the temporal things of this materialistic world and do not flee the lust of the eyes.
It is my sincere prayer today, for God to turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through His word (Psalm 119:37).
marvin williams on June 3, 2011 at 4:25 pm
daisymarycoldr, thanks for adding your voice to this conversation. You are spot on with your comments. I love your illustration about horses wearing blinders to get work done. Moreover, the way you define purity as “nothing but single-mindedness for doing God’s will,” is a different and effective way to look at what purity is. I like it. Because corporations use sex to sell products during sports seasons, and because i am an avid sports fan, the temptation can be intense. One of the ways I guard my heart, especially during football season is to turn my head or turn the channel. I try to do this with my wife and children in the room so they can see my commitment to Jesus and even hold me accountable. My prayer is that God will turn my eyes away from worthless things as well. Again, thanks for your insight.
pampauley65 on June 3, 2011 at 8:56 am
Wow! I just finished reading the “Daily Hope” on http://www.purposedrivenlife.com and it was about this same issue. The issue of protecting our children from the evils of this world and what they see through the media. Yes, it is so subtle the way this is introduced to us. It is at first shocking, then we accept it as a change, the way things are now, and then we don’t notice it. But I have twin granddaughter that are 3 1/2 and they are like sponges. Everything they see gets stored in their little computer-like minds only to come out again later. We have to be very careful what they watch on TV and see in real life.
If I have read this in 2 devotionals today, I guess I’d better take heed. Even today’s “Our Daily Bread” was about Ninevah being wiped out because of wichedness. Nahum 1.
We need to watch not only our own eyes but those of our children and grandchildren and pray that God will put a hedge around them.
marvin williams on June 3, 2011 at 4:31 pm
pampauley65, I had to have a conversation about two weeks ago with my brother about this very subject. I reminded him how important it is for us to careful about what we expose our kids to. We baby sat his daughter and son a few weeks ago, and his five year old daughter said some things that concerned us. So, with as much love and compassion, I talked with him about. I think I even used the phrase: “Our kids are like sponges.” I believe he understood where I was coming from. We have such an awesome responsibility to not only teach the Word but also live the Word. Thanks for adding your voice to this conversation.
agapegirl88 on June 3, 2011 at 9:19 am
Um wow. This is very convicting and I want to be real and honest and say that it’s not only the attraction of opposite sexes that we need to work on. There are some of us (yep, even me) who have more a struggle in the are of same sex lust than opposite sex lust. I am in the daily throws currently of trying to work on and through this, and even understand it. I just want to be open and honest that there is a very different side to this that the church has not been comfortable or able to understand very well. But being honest about it, at least on here, gives me a measure of clarity to admit this struggle. I hope it helps others as well.
Peace and Grace
agapegirl88
marvin williams on June 3, 2011 at 4:42 pm
agapegirl88, thank you so much for your honesty here in this community. I love it. You are right about our sometimes limited focus sexual temptations. Sometimes we forget that sexual struggles and temptations extend beyond the opposite sex. It is encouraging that you had enough courage to admit your struggles and to continue to live for Jesus amidst those struggles. Amid our sexual temptations, we must continue to daily make a covenant with our eyes, turning our eyes and hearts away from worthless things. Again, agapegirl88, thanks you so much for adding your voice to this conversation. Blessings on you.
OnMyWayHome on June 3, 2011 at 5:22 pm
The battle that is going on for men and women is getting tougher and hard to avoid as its all around use. We were just talking about this the other day as to billboards, ads on buses to bus stop signs they are very graphic to say the least. It tempts men and women alike and whats more almost all the photos are PhotoShoped I would post a several links to attest to that as I see it all the time. We are carried away by our own desires
James 1:14-15 (ESV)
14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
Says a lot as to what happens when one is carried away as I was years ago I have not beat it yet I am trying to stay under the Lords control and not be lead astray again. Which is why I like the verse Galatians 5:16-21 it speaks the Truth and cuts to the bone as to the effects of the flesh.
Thank you for the reminder as it was just two days ago the strangest time with turning my eyes away from one women (DO not want to express the attire) to only see another, then another and then another. That I had to admit to the Lord its almost impossible at times to avoid Life.
Thank you again for the reminder as well as to encourage and spur one another on.