You prove you are serious about higher education by earning a post-graduate degree. You demonstrate your commitment to your field by maintaining a professional certification. And you demonstrate your commitment to a woman with a marriage license (and a marriage, of course).
But what about your commitment to quitting porn? How do you prove to yourself, to your wife or girlfriend, to God, that you are serious about gaining victory over your habitual sexual sin? With a covenant. A covenant with your eyes.
A covenant is a solemn, binding agreement that defines the relationship between two individuals. A covenant always has a stipulated goal to do, or not do, something. And a covenant has consequences. There are blessings if both people keep the covenant, and there are penalties if one person breaks the covenant.
You read in the Old Testament about a man called Job who was tempted by his eyes to sin. This is what he did about it, in his own words:
“I have made a covenant with my eyes. Why then should I look upon a young woman?”
Job 31:1
Job made a solemn, binding agreement between himself and his eyes to not look lustfully at young women. His eyes knew he had made this covenant. And he knew he had made this covenant. But the key thing to remember about this contract, this agreement, is that Job made it in anticipation of being tempted.
He didn’t make it just before he knew he would be tempted, while being tempted, or after being tempted. He made this covenant with his eyes long before he was tempted. He knew that temptation would come, and so he spelled out in a solemn agreement what he would do when that temptation arrived uninvited.
The result? When Job saw a young woman, he knew what to do. His eyes knew what to do. He was never caught off guard. He never had to fumble around in the moment, trying to figure out what action to take. Job knew what he had to do because he had made a covenant with his eyes not to look.
This covenant gave Job tremendous confidence and power over the temptation to lust with his eyes. That’s why he asks, rhetorically, “Why then should I look upon a young woman?” The answer to Job (and to you and me) is obvious. “I shouldn’t look because I have already covenanted with my eyes not to look.” End of story.
If you are serious about quitting porn, prove it. For men, sexual sin typically starts with the eyes. So sign a covenant between you and your eyeballs. Do it now. And then keep that covenant.
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