Feast Your Eyes on Him       

(take great pleasure in looking at someone or something)

Intro Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvozcv8pS3c

One of the first things that stood out in this video is that our eyes are windowsto the wonderful wonders of the world.  That is the way that God createdthem.  Your eyes were created to take in the beautyof His creation so that you would be awestruckof who He is and ultimately give Him glory.  Every majestic mountain, every crashing of the waveon sandy beaches, everystarin the sky, every birdin the air, every animalon land and on sea, were created by Godso that when we see them with our eyes, we would be in awe of whoGod is.

Genesis 2:9

 ⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. 

The trees were not only good for food, but they were pleasantto the sight.

Pleasant-to take delight in

It was God’ intentto not only sustain usthrough fruit trees but that the trees would be pleasant to our eyes, or that we would take pleasure in His creations. God created eyes so that we would experience pure, innocent, pleasure.

Let’s look at another examplejust a few verses down. of how God intended for us to experiencepleasure with our eyes.

²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 

AfterGod had brought all the animalsof the earth to Adam so that he could name them, God then brings him a naked womannamed Eve. Needless to say, Adam likedwhat he had seen.  He didn’t have to go searching for her, God brought herto him. It is because of this natural attractionthat we celebrate mothers today.

²³ Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

God has given man the ability to experience pleasure with his eyes.  Adam seen his wife, he was attractedto her because of what he had seen and she brought great delight to him. 

They were both naked and unashamed.  They had no need to be ashamed because they had not yet sinned.  Sin brings about shame. They were as God had createdthem to be. They were perfect. It was beautiful, it was holy, it was what God intended.

That is until Genesis chapter 3.

Many of you know the story, God had given them all the treesin the garden to eat from and to enjoy except the one in the middle of the garden.  They were forbiddento even touch it. God said if they touched it then they would surely die.

⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. 

The woman saw that it was goodfor food, it was a delight even desirableto the eyes however it was forbiddenby God.

This is when our eyes get us in trouble. When we cravethose things which we seeto the point in which we disregard God’s willfor our lives.   

It started with a look, which led to a desire, which led to sin.

The same thing happened to King David. At the time when kings were supposedto be in battle, King David stays back in Jerusalem.  While walking on his roofone day He sees a beautiful womannamed Bathsheba taking a bath.   David took herand lay with her and she became pregnant.

She was not his to take, she was married to a man named Uriah. Uriah, by the way, was a valiant warriorwho was fighting in David’s army.  Long story short David has Uriah put in the fiercest partof the battle and he is killed.  Consequently, for his sin the child that Bathshebawas carrying also dies.  What a tragic thing for a motherto lose her child.  But what made it even more tragic is that she lost it becauseof another man’s sin.

David and Bathsheba eventually get marriedand have another child and his name is Solomon.  When Solomon grew up and became king, he was drawn awayfrom loving God by his 700 wives.  “And his wives turned away his heart.”

David allowed his eyesto lead him to commit adulteryandmurder, Solomon followed suitand his wives led him away from God.

The idea is that what you allow in through your eyes, does not only affect you, but generationsafter you.

What starts with a look, leads to a desire, which leads to sin, which affects generationsto come. 

Your eyes are gatewaysto your soul.  Our eyes allow us to experience pleasurethe way God intended but at the same time we are to be cautiousnot to let our desires overrule our moral compass.

For you menout there, watchwhat you are watching.

Matthew 5:27-28

²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 

It is one thing to see a pretty womanand think “she is pretty” like you would when observing abeautiful mountainor an amazing sunset.  But it is sinwhen you think “she is pretty and I want her,” and you look at her with lustful intent. 

The only person you are allowed tolook at in such a way is your wife. Your eyescan experience pure pleasure with your wife. That was the way that God created it to be. 

Proverbs 5:18-19

¹⁸Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
¹⁹ a lovely deer, a graceful doe.  Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.

Jesuswould say thatevery other lookthat has a lustful intentis as committing the sinof adultery.

You say that you would not cheaton your wife, but if you are looking at pornthen you are guilty of the sin of adultery.

Turn awaywhen all the other guysare looking at perverted images, delete thosewebsitesfrom your computer, put into place accountability softwareon your computer such as “Covenant Eyes.”

Watchwhat you are watching.  Because the ones coming after you, are watching what you are watching.  They are looking at what keeps your interest. 

I picked on the mennow I will pick on the ladiesout there. 

While you might not be asstimulatedby the visual sight of a hunky man, you’re more stimulated when you feel loved and cherished.   However, you are still movedby and influenced by what you see.

For example,

You’re scrolling through Facebookwhen you come across a post from a lady friend, who depicts her husbandto be the most romanticperson that ever walked the face of the earth.  And how they just celebrated their 10 yearsof marriage together with a trip to Venice.  How he is the perfect guyand can do no wrong.   He is robustand has the perfect smilewith a great sense of humorand rose pedals dropwith every step he takes.

Then you look at your husbandand he is far from perfect, he’s done a lot of wrong, he is not robust but bustingat the seams, he has no sense of humorand he just chopped down the rose bush, and you think why can’t my husband be morelike so and so.

Why can’t my lifebe more like hers?  If you’re not careful with your eyesyou could fall into the same trap of discontentmentthat Evefell into. 

That is the danger that lurksbehind wandering eyes. We see what others haveand we become discontentwith what we have.  Commercialsare great for doing this.  They show you what the new thingis and how awesome lifewould be if you had that new thing.  If you don’t have that new thing then you are nothing.

What starts with a look, leads to a desire, which leads to sin, which affects generationsto come. 

What you allow in through your eyeswill ultimately affect who youare and those around you.

As we have seen thus far,through your eyes you can experience pleasurethe way God intended but if we are not carefulour eyes could lead to sins such as adultery, discontentment, envy,jealousyetc.…

Matthew 6:22

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,

It is through our eyes that we receive light.  It is through our eyes that we have light for movementfor the rest of our body. If you do not have light from your eyes, body movementwould be extremely difficult.

If our eyes are healthy, meaning if our judgments are sound, if we are able to distinguishthose seen things that are good and profitableto our spiritual wellbeing, then our whole body shall be full of light.

However, if we lack sound judgmentas to notbe able to discern that which is evil, and we allow those dark thingsin through the lens of our eyes, then our entire bodywill be overcome by that darkness.

Just as your natural eyes will respondwhen a lightis shining in them, your spiritual eyeswill respond to the light and/or darkness it receives. It will then conveythat message to the rest of the body.

Back in Genesis, once Adam and Everealized they had sinned it says their eyes were open.  Meaning they had realized what they had done.  Their eyes conveyed the guiltfor their sins they committed.

(Picture of guilty eyes)

Thankfully Christcame to redeem our eyes.

In the video we watched earlier, they said that every blink helps our eyes naturaldefense system.  As the eye blinks, the tear system keeps your eyes moistwhich then acts as a disinfectant to keep bacteriaaway and the tears also wash away anyimpuritiesin order to maintain eye health.

When I think of tears, I think of brokennessand feelings of sorrow.  When we realize that what we have allowed intoour lives, through our eyes, has produced darknessthroughout our bodies then we should feel sorrowful.  We should be brokenfor our sins. We should feel remorse for sowing deathinto our bodies and into those around us.

When the eyes complete the blinking processand the tears wash away the impurities, the eyes are then reopenedand refreshed as a result.

What Christ did for us on the cross, becoming sinfor us and bearing the guiltof our sin, he went down to the gravewhich can be compared to a closed eyeupon blinking. But His eyes did not stay shut.  He opened his eyesand He rose to new life.

Those of us who have found this new life in Christ, have died to our old fleshly desiresand have risen to newness of life.  We are refreshed and cleansedthrough the opening of His eyes.  Our impurities are no more.  Our spiritual blindnessis no more, our eyeshave been openedand we choose to allow our eyes to feast on His goodness.  To take pleasurein who He isand in His creation.  We will not be drawn away by our eyes.