Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Proverbs 4:25

After making a connection between our heart and our mouth (which we looked at

yesterday), Solomon then makes an equally important connection between our heart

and our eyes, “Let your eyes look directly forward.” It’s interesting that Jesus make a

very similar comparison in the Gospels. Listen to our Savior’s words in Matthew 5:27-

29:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that

everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with

her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.”

Now, clearly Jesus is not commending us to physically harm ourselves. Removing an

eye would do us no good as we are perfectly capable of lust with our eyes tightly shut.

However, he is warning us about our propensity to dabble in temptation and the impact

that has on our heart. He is also reinforcing Solomon’s warning that sinful, destructive

behavior originates in our heart, so we must “keep it with all vigilance.” And one way

that we do that is by tossing all temptation. But how do we toss temptation? Solomon

doesn’t leave us guessing, look at the second part of verse 25:

“Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.”

Solomon knows the strong lure of temptation in this fallen world and one key strategy

for fighting temptation is self-examination or “pondering our path.” This requires honest

reflection “where will this path take me if I indulge this, watch this, drink this, or fall prey

to this?” Temptation has a clear and predictable path that Jesus’ brother James unpacks

for us:

“each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire

when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth

death.” (James 1:13-15)

Un-checked temptation takes us farther than we want to go, teaches us more than we

want to know, costs us more than we want to pay and keeps us longer than we want to

say. Un-checked temptation will eventually take our hearts!

Q: What are some of the current temptations you sometimes allow into your life?

Q: What path might some of these temptations take you down and what needs to be

tossed, so that you might not lose heart in the coming year?

By Jimmy Carter

Your Daily Missions Moment:

In February you will have the opportunity to help provide Bible Translation for a people group in Central Asia that does not have a Bible in their language. Watch for more information about “Adopt a Verse” coming in 2025. You can make a difference for $40 per verse.