When Did You Pluck Out Your Eye? | Matthew 5:29

If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Matthew 5:29

When is the last time you plucked out your right eye and cast it away from you? I am not being sarcastic. I am asking you in earnest because this principle is one of the keys to conquering pornography, lust, sexual temptation and sexual immorality in your life. The path to sexual purity requires knowing and conquering your triggers.

When Jesus said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you,” He was speaking in the context of adultery. He had just said, “whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Then he gave the remedy. If your right eye causes you to sin by lusting after women, then pluck it out and cast it away from you.

The problem, of course, is that this is where many Christian men stop reading. They think Jesus is using hyperbole (extravagant exaggeration), to make a point, which He is. They think that Jesus doesn’t want them to literally pluck out their right eye, which He doesn’t. And so they take this command no farther. They don’t consider the practical implications of Jesus’ command, or think about how to obey this command in daily life. So they do nothing. They don’t pluck out their right eye, but they don’t do anything else, either. And so they fail to get victory over their sexual sin.

When Jesus says, “If your right eye causes you to sin,” He is speaking of what we today call a “trigger.” Where pornography is concerned, a trigger is anything internal or external that causes you to crave pornography. A trigger can be a person, a place, a thought, a sound, a smell, a sight—anything in your life that tempts you to sin sexually. A billboard can be a trigger. A passenger on the bus can be a trigger. A book in the library can be a trigger.

If you want to get victory over pornography, you must discover—and deal with—your triggers. You likely have dozens. To discover yours, you just have to fill in the blank: “If [fill in the blank] causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you.” In real life, obeying Jesus looks like this:

• If Instagram causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you.
• If Netflix causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you.
• If Sports Illustrated causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you.
• If TikTok causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you.
• If your phone causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you.

This is where you win the victory. You identify the things that trigger you sexually, and you remove them from your life. You pluck them out. You cast them away. All of them. This hurts, but the pain is worth it. After all, as Jesus says, “it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”