A Covenant With Your Eyes

                                          Scripture: Matthew 5:28, Job 31:1, Proverbs 23:7

A few years ago a soft drink commercial showed a group of young ladies crowded around an upper window in an office building watching a handsome, shirtless construction worker take a break and enjoy a cool drink. Maybe you have felt eyes staring as you strolled down the street or made your way to a table in a restaurant. And, let's be honest, maybe you've done your share of staring too.

The common term for this is "ogling." The younger generation calls it "scoping out." But what does the Bible call it?

What Does God Say?

Jesus says in Matthew 5:28, "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (NKJV).

What does Jesus call "ogling"?

Why do you think Jesus seems to take such an extreme stand? List at least two reasons.

In your opinion, is this primarily a "male-gender" sin? Why or why not?

The Old Testament character Job knew the danger of ogling. In Job 31:1, he declares, "I have made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I look upon a young woman?" (NKJV).

What does the word "covenant" mean? (If you're not sure, look it up in a dictionary.)

What age group would you guess Job might be a part of?

Is age a factor in this sin?

My Thoughts

If you're a female, share how ogling makes you feel. If you're a male, indicate how you think this makes a woman feel and then ask your wife or, if you're not married, another woman how accurately your thoughts reflect their feelings.

My Part

The eyes are an important key to a pure heart. What comes in through the eyes typically is lodged in our minds and becomes a part of our thought life. The writer of Proverbs says, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7, NKJV). Write a covenant that will guide you in the way that you look at someone of the opposite sex. List at least two specific steps that will keep you from the sin of ogling. Set a date to implement the covenant you created.

Additional Scripture to read: 1 John 2:16, James 1:14-15, Proverbs 4:25

                                     A True Story

            Flying Scot Refuses To Run On Sunday

Most of us only think about Eric Liddell as ‘the man who wouldn’t run on Sunday’, about whom about the Oscar winning movie ‘Chariots of Fire’ was made. He was known as the ‘Flying Scotsman’

and was the first of his country to win Gold during the 1924 Paris Olympics. Committed Christian Eric Liddell refused to race on Sunday and was forced to withdraw from the 100 metres, his best event. Instead, Liddell raced in the 400 metres and little was expected of him. As Liddell went to the starting blocks for the race, an American slipped a piece of paper in his hand with a quotation from 1 Samuel 2:30, "Those who honour me I will honour." Liddell ran with that piece of paper in his hand and not only won the race but broke the existing world record with a time of 47.6 seconds.

Liddell achieved a greater prize than Olympic Gold later on in his life. After the Olympics, Liddell returned to China to work as a missionary. His family, originally from Scotland, worked in China during the time of the Boxer Rebellion. Liddell worked as a teacher at a school for Chinese boys at which he taught chemistry and organized sports. He married in 1934 and in 1936 China prepared for war as Communist and Nationalist tensions increased. Liddell was asked by the London Missionary Society to give up his work in Tientsin, and work as a village evangelist in Siao Chang. This was a dangerous area. Liddell could not take his wife and two daughters with him and he was forced to leave them behind when he went to work there. He was able to visit on occasion, but it was a long journey. Visits were not frequent.

EVANGELIST

The villages Liddell worked in suffered many hardships as a result of the warring between Communists and Nationalists. On one day, the Communists would pillage and destroy a village and then leave. Later, on another day, the Nationalists would come and do the same thing. His job in the area was evangelism and to encourage the Christians already there. The work was dangerous. Travelling in the countryside with Communist and Nationalist forces equally hostile to missionary work put Liddell in harm’s way on a regular basis.

The Japanese invaded China and in 1940 Liddell told his wife to take their children to Canada where she could live with her parents. He stayed behind in Tientsin to continue his work. Liddell was sent by the Japanese to an Internment Camp where 1800 other internees were confined. He was not dissuaded by his circumstances. He worked tirelessly in the camp, doing just about anything that needed to be done, whether it was bible study, teaching children who were trying to keep up their studies, or organizing sports. In a prisoner exchange bargain, his freedom was arranged by Winston Churchill, but he gave it up and let a pregnant woman leave instead.

I HAVE FINISHED THE RACE

In 1944, Liddell was not well. The doctors did not have the resources to diagnose the real nature of the problem. On February 21, 1945, he began coughing uncontrollably, and as friends came to his aid, he lay back and uttered the words “It is surrender”. An autopsy later revealed that Liddell had a large tumour on the left side of his brain. He died never having seen his third child, Maureen Liddell. This man was truly committed to the cause of Christ. He had the opportunity to leave China but he chose to stay.He poured his life into the work of reaching the lost in China. He worked for a prize far greater than gold, even Olympic gold.

what is your decision this sunday? where you will want to go? what is important in your life?

                 Masihi Vandana (BackToTheBible)

The Unchanging Flesh Nature 

By Theodore Epp

2 Samuel 11:6-15

David's scheme was to bring Uriah home on a military furlough, hoping that he would be considered the father of Bathsheba's child. Uriah was much more righteous than David in this. He would not permit himself to relax until the war was over.

David then resorted to extreme measures. To the sin of adultery he added the sin of murder. He wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. It contained instructions that Uriah must meet death in battle.

Uriah--honest, upright and fully dedicated to his nation and to his king--was given a letter with his own death warrant in it to be handed to Joab, the leader of Israel's army.

If David could not cover up his sin by his plots, then he would seal Uriah's lips so that he could not accuse David of being the father of Bathsheba's child.

Some of us think that when a person such as David falls into such terrible sin, the reason must be that he was not a true believer. We must never forget that the evil nature inherited from Adam, or the flesh, in the believer is no different than in the unbeliever.

Until we see this, we will never understand the sovereign grace of God and God's sovereignty in the methods He uses in our lives.

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9).

When All Seems Lost

                                               by Dr. Warren Wiersbe

Read Psalm 79:1-13

There are days when we look around and it seems as though the Enemy has won. That's the way Asaph felt when he wrote Psalm 79.

He looked around and saw defilement. "Oh God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; Your holy temple they have defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps" (v. 1). Asaph refers to the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem. We, too, can look around today and see defilement in people's minds and hearts.

Then Asaph saw death. "The dead bodies of Your servants they have given as food for the birds of the heavens.... Their blood they have shed like water all around Jerusalem" (vv. 2,3). Our world is basically a cemetery. The wages of sin is death. We see it wherever we look.

Asaph also saw derision. "We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those who are around us" (v. 4). People today don't magnify the Lord; they laugh at Him. They laugh at the Church, at God's people. We are a derided people because so often it looks as though we are losing and they have won the battle.

Finally, Asaph saw the enemy devouring. "For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place" (v. 7). Yes, the devouring, de

stroying hand of Satan was at work. But Asaph says, "Help us, O God of our salvation." Why? "For the glory of Your name; and deliver us" (v. 9). How? "And provide atonement for our sins, for Your name's sake!" Asaph isn't concerned so much about his own comfort as he is about God's glory. So he prays, "Help us."

God helps by purging us from our sins. In addition, verses 11 and 12 tell us that He will come and save us. How wonderful that day will be when Jesus Christ comes to deliver us! Meanwhile, in the world we see defilement, death, derision, destruction and devouring. Now is the time to cry and say, "O God, for the glory of Your name, help us do Your will."

Satan is at work in the world, but one day God will be glorified, and He will deliver His people from this world. God promises to be with you and to be your Salvation. Rest on that promise.