Scripture: The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35 Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. 36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light." Luke 11:34-36 (NKJV)
Observation: Jesus made an analogy between receptivity to His ministry and the ability to see. Receptivity is like having healthy eyes; one can see well (light enters the body). The warning to ensure that the light in you is not darkness is paradoxical, not illogical. Jesus intended examination of the heart’s spiritual receptivity. [Cabal, T., Brand, C. O., Clendenen, E. R., Copan, P., Moreland, J., & Powell, D. (2007). The Apologetics Study Bible: Real Questions, Straight Answers, Stronger Faith (1537). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.]
Application: It is commonly known that men tend to be more visual. That’s one of the reasons why pornography is mostly used by men – although recent research shows that the number of women using pornography is increasing. One of the problems with pornography, however, is that deepens the emptiness in the user which drives him back to look for more, which is what develops his dependence or addiction to it. Another problem is that the more women with little or no clothing he watches, and they are performing all kinds of sex acts with men, he will begin to long for his wife to do the same, and when she doesn’t he becomes frustrated and goes back to watch more pornography. Again, this promotes the continuation of a vicious cycle of frustration, emptiness, loneliness, desire, and repeating the event. The third problem, among many, is that as beautiful as his wife may be, she will never be able to compare with the multitude of women he’s watching, which means he will grow increasingly dissatisfied with her.
Women might be disgusted with men’s use of pornography, and yet, many are reading romantic novels, many of them very descriptive of sexual situations, or constantly watching movies and TV programs with fictitious plots, romantic encounters, couples falling in love within minutes of meeting and also having sex shortly thereafter.. The constant reading of such novels like the 2012 best seller trilogy “Fifty Shades of Grey” will have a similar effect on women by creating a world of fantasy that no man can possibly fulfill.
How can one be free of these habits or addictions? Our texts for today tell us that Jesus had just cast out of a man a demon that kept him unable to speak. I find this story very encouraging because if the man couldn’t speak, he obviously could utter words of help to Jesus. But obviously as well, Jesus “heard” the longing of this man’s heart and acted on it. For those of us who seem unable to break away from sin, and it seems as if our prayers go nowhere, this story should lift our spirits with the knowledge that God hears our innermost longing for Him, and that He helps us even when we feel helpless.
A Prayer You May Say: Father God, please hear our plea for delivery from the habits and addictions against which we battle, and deliver us from the world of fantasy and the resulting sins into which we fall.
Used by permission of Adventist Family Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.