By Dr. Don Dunlap
Pastoral Counselor
We should ask God for the grace to view others with the eyes of Christ—not with eyes of lust.
Family Counseling Ministries -
As Believers, our goal should be to train our eyes to see
what Jesus sees. In the 3rd installment of a seven-part series on
conquering impure thoughts, Dr. Don Dunlap reminds us that as Jesus encountered
various people in His earthly ministry He viewed them with eyes of compassion
and selfless love. Dr. Dunlap explains that lust is the opposite of love. Love
is self-giving and lust is self-gratifying.
The writer of Galatians 5:17-21 reminds us that our flesh
is constantly at war with God’s Spirit,
For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the
Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that
you may not do the things that you please…Now the deeds of the flesh are
evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery,
enmities, strife, jealousy.
Job purposed to look at a woman’s face, not her body.
We find in the life of Job, an example of the third
principle for overcoming impure thoughts. Job was one of the most righteous men
who ever lived. We read in Job 31:1, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to
look lustfully at a girl.”
Controlling our eyes is the key to controlling our minds.
A Christian should focus his or her gaze on the countenance of each person that
he or she meets.
A person’s facial expression often reflects the intent
of his heart.
Because a person’s countenance reflects the condition of his
or her heart, it gives other people clear direction in how to respond to him or
her. Jesus explains in the Sermon on the Mount that the eye is the light of the
body. He goes on to say that if our eyes are evil, with sensual thoughts toward
someone, our bodies will be full of spiritual darkness.
We must have as our goal, a desire to train our eyes to
see what Jesus sees. As He encountered various people in His earthly ministry
He viewed them with eyes of compassion and selfless love. Lust is the opposite
of love. Love is self-giving, while lust is self-gratifying.
Christians should ask God for the grace to view others with
the eyes of Christ Jesus.
When we were lost in our sin, Christ looked at us not for
what we were but for what we could be through Him. If we are to think God’s
thoughts, we must ask God for insight into what He wants to accomplish in the
life of each person that we meet.
God will grant us the ability to visualize how the most
ungodly person could be a radiant and beautiful expression of Christ. This
prompts us to have right responses toward people rather than to lust after
them. It puts us at ease to talk with them and it builds the godly restraint
that we all need in our thought lives.
We must also heed the words of Matthew 25:45,
I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the
least of these brothers of Mine, you did not do for Me.
God wants us to view every person we meet as having been
created by Him and loved by Him. Then we will come to the scriptural
realization that when we do not think pure and godly thoughts about him or her,
we are sinning against the Lord.
We read a reinforcement of the concept of a “covenant with
our eyes” in Proverbs 4:23-25,
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring
of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your
lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.
Dr. Don
Dunlap, a pioneer in the placement of Pastoral Counselors in the offices of
Christian physicians, has conducted over twenty thousand appointments during
his ministerial career. His counseling practice includes adults, children and
families in crisis. Dr. Dunlap is committed to facilitating a network of
telephone counselors. His goal is to provide help for the many people unable to
meet face to face with a competent Bible-based counselor. For a complete
library of Dr. Dunlap’s articles, indexed by topic, go to Family Counseling Ministries. You
may also make an appointment for personal telephone counseling by clicking on Family Counseling Ministries.
Family Counseling Ministries is a Christianity.com
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