Jesus teaches that avoiding sins that start with your eyes requires you to take drastic and permanent measures. If you look at women to lust after them, for example, you commit adultery. Jesus says the way to prevent this sin is to tackle it at the source—your eyes:
“And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire—where “Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.”
Mark 9:47-48
Jesus is not saying that you should literally pluck out your eye. He is telling you that you must remove from your life anything that causes you to sin. For example, if you are old school and still have so-called adult magazines kicking around your garage, and if those magazines cause you to sin (their primary purpose, after all), get rid of the magazines. If you can’t watch soaps, sitcoms and movies without stumbling upon sex scenes, throw out your TV. If your neighbor has a pool, and nubile daughters, build a solid fence, close your blinds during the day, and spend the summer in your basement.
This command of Jesus is clear. If any people, places or things cause you to sin, pluck them from your life. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God without these things in your life than it is to keep them in your life and to be cast into hell.
This brings us naturally enough to the subject of your smartphone. Out of the box, your smartphone gives you unrestricted access to every conceivable form of sexual immorality, and a few others that you can’t conceive of. With a few clicks of your thumbs, you can visit websites that feature videos and still images that will land you in prison or hell if you are caught watching them. Such is the power of the smartphone. It puts the entire world of sexual immorality—its depth and breadth, its depravity and moral bankruptcy—right in your pocket.
Now, be honest with yourself. Does your smartphone cause you to sin? Does it cause you to visit websites that Jesus forbids you to visit? Use apps that make you break one or more of the 10 Commandments? Look at videos and images that God hates? Does your smartphone cause you to sin with your eyes, to commit adultery with women you don’t know, to have sex with yourself, in clear disobedience to our Lord?
If your smartphone causes you to sin, why have you not plucked it out of your life? Why have you not replaced it with a dumb phone, a feature phone or a retro flip phone that cannot access the internet? Yes, your smartphone tells you the weather, gives you directions, keeps you in touch with family and friends, tracks your fitness, wakes you up in the morning, and lets you play Candy Crush while on the toilet. But these benefits are irrelevant. Your eye is also useful, but Jesus says you must pluck it out if it causes you to sin. Quitting pornography and shunning sexual sin, if you do so biblically, is inconvenient. It makes daily life harder. It humbles you. Sets you apart.
If your smartphone causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter the kingdom of God with a flip phone, than to be cast into hell clutching your smartphone.
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.
Was this post helpful? Share it now:
