Discipleship Devotional, April 14th, 2025
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
– 1st John 2:16 (KJV)
Yesterday, we dealt with the first component of worldliness, which we learned is the lust of the flesh. Today, we will be looking at the second, which John called the lust of the eyes. This has to do with the unbridled desire of wanting things at all cost. This is what the Bible calls covetousness. It’s also called the lust of the eyes because it has to do with desiring to have what you see.
This was the trap that David fell into when he committed sin with Uriah’s wife. You see, our eyes are such a critical part of our being because they can directly influence what we desire. This was also how the devil tempted Eve in the garden. The Bible says that she “saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye.”
The truth is that a lot of people don’t desire some things until their eyes see it. No wonder the Lord Jesus warned vehemently about guarding the eyes. He stressed that the eye is the lamp of the body that determines if there’s light in us.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
– Matthew 6:22-23 (NIV)
If what Jesus said is true (which it is), then it means we must pay keen attention to what we see. We must pay keen attention to what we allow our eyes to lust after. Many young people have lusted after a lifestyle that they can’t afford, and have gone on to do many terrible things in pursuit of that. The lust of the eyes made David go as far as kill Uriah to take his wife. We must be watchful of ourselves. Don’t get drowned in this.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me by your Spirit to censor my eyes. Help me never to give in to the lust of the eyes.
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