When God brought Eve to Adam in the Garden, it requires extraordinarily little, if any, imagination to think Adam liked what he saw.
Like his sons after him, father Adam was made by God to be attracted to Eve via his sense of sight. It is natural. It is innate.
Prior to the Fall, it was the norm for a man to be sexually attracted to a visually appealing woman without the toxic thorn of lust. After the Fall, however, this wonderful blessing was lost. Like the soil beneath our feet, purity of heart now requires a constant, strenuous battle against the thorns of lust.
A few years ago, fashion designers around the world introduced a clothing style they accurately deemed “The Slut Look”. With a host of characteristics like Eve’s original fig leaf, this degrading fashion line remains alive and well in our world.
With this noxious fashion and others of its ilk, how in the world can purity of heart be maintained? The answer is found in Matthew 5:27-32. The first two principles—you must understand what is required (vv. 27-28) and you must deal quickly, decisively, and drastically with the poisonous toxin called lust (vv. 29-30)—have already been considered (see the last two blogs).
The third principle—you must beware of causing others to sin—is stated in verses 31-32. Here, it is written, “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.”
Jesus here addresses how a husband can become a serious spiritual stumbling block to his wife. A man marries a wife. If he fails to sanctify her, cherish her, and content himself with her, he leaves himself vulnerable to desiring (i.e. lusting for) a different woman. Should he act upon this lustful yearning and divorce his faithful wife, Jesus says he “adulterizes” her—he callously ruins her reputation, stigmatizes her as a woman of low character, and makes her vulnerable to the temptation of entering into an adulterous (i.e. second) marriage. Therefore, a man’s lack of purity of heart can create a horrific stumbling block to others.
Though not discussed in the sermon on the mount, the Bible also addresses how a woman can become a serious spiritual stumbling block to men. Immodest clothing—apparel which a prostitute would wear (Proverbs 7:10) to advertise her lack of virtue—ultimately reflects a lack of purity of heart (1 Timothy 2:9-10). Therefore, a woman’s lack of purity of heart can create a horrific stumbling block to others.
BEWARE of causing others to sin.
