Primary command
Refuse to look at another person as an object for selfish desire; pursue inward purity as well as outward faithfulness.
Read the Scripture
Primary passage
Matthew 5:27–30
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’ 28 but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna. 30 If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.
World English Bible
In context
Hear the whole passage.
Jesus moves from the prohibition of adultery to the heart’s intention and uses severe imagery to call for decisive action against sin.
What Jesus is forming in us
Jesus forms people who honor others’ dignity and take responsibility for desires, habits, and access points that feed sin.
Practice this command
Take one clear step.
Confess one specific sin to God and, where wise, to a trustworthy believer; remove one practical doorway back to it.
Discuss
Talk about it.
What is the difference between grief that leads to repentance and shame that drives us into hiding?
Pray
Pray this.
Ask Jesus for honest confession, clean desire, and strength to walk in the light.
Teach
Teach it simply.
How would you explain repentance as a changed direction rather than mere regret?