My eyes can get me into all sorts of trouble.
When speaking of adultery, Jesus connects the heart with the eye.
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matthew 5v28
Jesus develops this connection,
Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.
Luke 11:34-35
Feasting my eyes on what is not mine fills my heart with darkness. This principle, that my focus impacts my desires, extends to all areas of life; it is the root of idolatry.
Desires do not stop in the heart. The way I fill my heart has an impact on the fruit of my life. Jesus says,
A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Luke 6:45
When I am struggling with my thoughts and even more when those thoughts bare bad fruit, then I start by acknowledging my failures. Then I go on to check what I am filling my heart with.
How is your heart?
Photo by Quinten de Graaf on Unsplash