Dealing with adultery

“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” - Matthew 5v27-28

A list of rules and “dos and don’ts” can be a blessing in some ways. All you have to do is obey the rules on the outside and everything is okay. If God would just tell us clearly what to do and what not to do we would be fine, just go down the tick list and we are right with God.

The Law did this in a sense and the religious leaders had perfected it. Do this and you are spiritual, do this and you are not. Easy enough, right?

Then Jesus came along and shook everything up. It is not enough just to act right, now Jesus says what is in our heart is what is really important. Here He talked about adultery. Most of us can say, “I have never committed adultery.” Fair enough, good job, we are okay there. Jesus took it to a new level when He said – “If you lust after a person you are committing adultery in your heart.” Jesus is saying that the outside is not enough. In the dirty little corners of our hearts there may be things hiding that we would never want to come out, but Jesus says that if we lust we have committed adultery.

We may pass one test. How do we do when we put ourselves to Jesus’ standard?