Having a Kingdom Attitude 11

In Matthew 5:21-30, Jesus deals with two of man's greatest sources of stress: anger and lust. These are the two most powerful, negative influences on mankind. How often do you open your paper or turn on the news and see one or both of these emotions being reported with negative consequences? With both anger and lust we see that if they are not recognized and dealt with internally first, then the continual consequences of anger and lust will lead to murder and adultery. Yet, when a person has a "Kingdom mindset" they will seek to deal quickly internally, before it manifest itself outwardly.

Today I want to focus on the 6th commandment, "Do not commit adultery." In this chapter Jesus was defend marriage convincingly; a union between one man and one woman at one time. Why does He defend marriage, because marriage is an object lesson of our relationship to Christ. The Pharisees prided themselves in not committing the "physical" act of adultery, but God could see their hearts and knew quite well that their mind and heart was a constant "peep show". Jesus states that if a man lusts after (stare, or continuous looking) a woman in his heart, then he is guilty of sin. When we hear of someone committing adultery, that was only the final step in a process of sinful, lustful thoughts of the heart. Jesus teaches us two was to keep this sin from destroying our marriages, first, we must be willing to remove what we cherish the most in order to protect us from evil. The right eye or hand was a person's best and most precious faculties. If your most cherished body part or electronic device is causing you to sin, get rid of it. Don't misunderstand this passage, Jesus is not justifying mutilation, because a blind man can still commit adultery. Second, we must remove sin quickly and decisively to protect us from evil. We do not ignore cancer, we cut it out completely; so too should the child of God do with any form of sin. Great stresses come when be allow our heart to hide sin; but you can also rest knowing that great relieve comes when we constantly repent of any and all sins, thus ensuring us a less stressed life. Until next time, keep walking close with Christ.