Y ou have heard it said in the Law, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a man’s wife with thoughts controlled by desire for her, covets his neighbor’s wife and commits adultery with her in his heart. A man and his wife are one. It is wrong to threaten that oneness with your inability to control desire. I do not speak here of normal sexual feelings; the sexual impulse you have toward a person of the other sex. That is the way you are made. Of itself, that impulse is clean and good. But to allow it latitude to develop into sexual covetousness comes from evil. Control it. Manage it. Save it for appropriate expression. Again, evil is found in the heart before it is expressed in deed.

I could see him smile at this. Almost as if he himself knew what it was like to be drawn by almond eyes, inviting lips, a soft bosom. So, that is the way I am made! It is clean and good! Such a thought warms my breast. What a delicious gift! Channeled as God intended it leads to a life of loving nourishment and satisfaction.

“Evil comes from a heart controlled by desire, not a heart in control of itself. Your body is not evil and cannot cause you to sin. Nor can any of its parts. But if a part of your body could cause you to sin, I would tell you to get rid of it. I would tell you to gouge out your right eye if it made you sin. It is better for you to lose an eye than your whole body. Or if your right hand caused you to sin, I would tell you to cut it off and throw it away. It would be better for you to lose a hand than for your whole body to discarded. The evil in your heart is a serious matter. Never dismiss it lightly.

I guess I do that. I rarely think of how evil I am; the larceny, the lurid licentiousness, the murderous spirit I sometimes possess toward my fellows. I suppose my reasoning is that if I think too much about my weakness, then I tend to become weaker. I seem to act out and feel what I think about. On the other hand, it is clearly best not to forget that while I loll about in these and other evils, the Lord Jesus died for me. I must never forget what I am and that were it not for his love and grace, the moral garbage pit is where I belong.

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