MAX ON LIFE

97. Is it natural for men to ogle women? My husband enjoys looking at attractive women, and he does it even when I'm around. This makes me angry, and I feel humiliated. Don't I have the right to ask him to stop doing this?

Jesus had this to say, and he was a man!

"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery'. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." (Matt 5:27-29)

Lust means looking at a person with sexual intent, fantasizing about someone you are not married to.

Adultery means that, as a married person, you are engaging in sexual activity with someone other than your spouse.

What's the difference? Touch.

What's the similarity? Thought.

I've hear it said that lust is the second time you gaze at a woman. There's some wisdom in that.

Jesus made the same point about lust that he made about murder (Mat 5:21). The only difference between the mental contemplation of hate and the act of murder is that murder pulls the trigger. The thought process is the same.

Both lust and hate cross a line. Sin is as much thought as it is action. Unbridled anger can lead to first-degree murder. Unmanaged thoughts about sex can lead to physical adultery.

Lust also threatens the spouse. For just a second, that bathing-suit beauty becomes the most attractive woman in the world, not you. For a fleeting moment, that brawny muscle man becomes the biggest stud who ever lived, not you. That hurts. It is humiliating.

Let your spouse know how it feels. "Every time you talk about another woman, it hurts me." "Every time you talk that way, I feel ugly."

Hopefully, next time he will think twice about looking twice.

By: Max Lucado