Is there any biblical basis to the saying, be careful what your eyes see and what your ears hear in this perilous Internet age?
1. Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life
2. Proverbs 23:31, 32
Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.
32. In the end it bites like a serpent
and stings like an adder.
3. Matthew 18:9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.
4. Matthew 6:22 "The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, (healthy, good) your whole body will be full of light.
5. Proverbs 4: 25 Let your eyes look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.
26 Ponder the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.
Someone once said that the human heart is an idol factory, if one is to be clean, then one has to do two things.
The positive approach – seek to see and be filled with the beauty of the Lord
Psalm 27:4
and stings like an adder.
3. Matthew 18:9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.
4. Matthew 6:22 "The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, (healthy, good) your whole body will be full of light.
5. Proverbs 4: 25 Let your eyes look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.
26 Ponder the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.
Someone once said that the human heart is an idol factory, if one is to be clean, then one has to do two things.
The positive approach – seek to see and be filled with the beauty of the Lord
Psalm 27:4
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
Ephesians 1:17
God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,
Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ and His beauty to you continually that you may worship God in your heart. Prayer is an inescapable necessity, for prayer is meeting with God.
The negative approach
Matthew 18:9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.
Certain things cause certain people to sin. We are not all alike in our weaknesses. Something that will stumble one will not stumble another. Only we know what stumbles us.
It is helpful for us to confess our sins and weaknesses to one another so that we can support each other in pursuing a life of purity.
We also need the determination to be done with the habits and tendencies which lead to sin in our own heart. A determination to obliterate sin entirely, not to hold back in our war against sin. Don’t get me wrong I am not advocating a sanctification of human work and effort. Only God can change the heart
The Promise of His Working
Ezekiel 36:26 NLT
And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
Ezekiel NIV
19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.
So to change the heart is not only God who does the work, we need to want to put away the old ways, the old man, the sinful nature and we must desire, gradually or immediately to put on the new man, the man who is created in Christ image. It requires an act of volition on our part, our wills and choices, as well as our faith and dependance on God who does the work are embedded in the heart of the matter of holiness.
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
Ephesians 1:17
God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,
Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ and His beauty to you continually that you may worship God in your heart. Prayer is an inescapable necessity, for prayer is meeting with God.
The negative approach
Matthew 18:9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.
Certain things cause certain people to sin. We are not all alike in our weaknesses. Something that will stumble one will not stumble another. Only we know what stumbles us.
It is helpful for us to confess our sins and weaknesses to one another so that we can support each other in pursuing a life of purity.
We also need the determination to be done with the habits and tendencies which lead to sin in our own heart. A determination to obliterate sin entirely, not to hold back in our war against sin. Don’t get me wrong I am not advocating a sanctification of human work and effort. Only God can change the heart
The Promise of His Working
Ezekiel 36:26 NLT
And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
Ezekiel NIV
19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.
So to change the heart is not only God who does the work, we need to want to put away the old ways, the old man, the sinful nature and we must desire, gradually or immediately to put on the new man, the man who is created in Christ image. It requires an act of volition on our part, our wills and choices, as well as our faith and dependance on God who does the work are embedded in the heart of the matter of holiness.
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