“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.”

Matthew 5:27–29

Jesus reminds you about the seventh commandment: do not commit adultery. But he takes it one step further. What leads you to commit adultery is the lustful intent in your heart. In Scripture, the term heart is used to describe the core of who you are (Prov. 4:23; 27:19; Luke 6:45). Lust, coveting, and greed are heart problems. You don’t need to touch a woman to commit sin. You merely need to look at her lustfully. This says something about your heart, doesn’t it? You’ve got a sick heart. 

Jesus goes on: If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. Obviously our Lord uses exaggeration for effect. The point is not to actually harm yourself but to understand how serious sexual sin is. Christ uses graphic imagery to say, be radical when you deal with your sexual sin.

Pause and think. How radical are you as you fight sin? Consider the options. Maybe you don’t do anything about it, because you don’t want to give up the sin. Maybe you’ve felt a tinge of guilt, and even more shame, but you keep coming back for more. Maybe you’ve told a friend about the images or videos you have looked at, but you haven’t gotten rid of your access. So long as you allow yourself access to pornography—so long as you don’t prevent this black bile from seeping into your heart—you’re doing great harm to your life.

Christ said to be radical. Measure your last few months against Jesus’s words. Have you taken drastic measures to fight the sin, or have you made excuses, delayed making adjustments, or continued to hide the sin rather than confess it? Have you tolerated the sin, coddled it, maybe even welcomed it—and, in so doing, continued to give it a chance to hurt your life? 

What is better: to lose an eye but walk toward heaven, or to run toward hell? Christ warns you. His mention of hell should scare you. If you choose to indulge the sin, to ignore God’s commands, to disobey and shake your fist at God, then your rebellion and foolishness will lead to death.

Fighting sin is serious business. Remember, you are at war. Don’t tolerate the sin anymore. Cut off any access points to pornography today.

— Deepak Reju, author, Pornography