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THE PIRATE LOOK

We are visual creatures! Through our phones, tablets, laptops, and TVs, we see thousands of images and video clips every single day. I’m not saying that’s good or bad, it’s just the way things are today. As we talk about filtering what comes into our minds and hearts, we have to take some time looking at (see what I did there?) what we allow ourselves to see. 

Jesus actually spoke really clear about this in his most famous sermon ever (The Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5-7). One of the things that people loved about Jesus’ teaching was that he didn’t shy away from tough issues – he told people the truth. And he tackled this issue of our eyes head-on in Matthew 5. You’ll read it in a second, but essentially, he’s dealing with lust and says that if your eye causes you to sin, it’d be better to gouge it out and throw it away. That’s right, he says that if you keep looking at stuff that causes you to sin, better to rock the pirate look the rest of your life than to just keep looking. Okay, hold on, nobody hurt their eyes.

Jesus is using hyperbole to make a point. He’s recognizing that we are visual creatures and that we are going to struggle with what we look at (and he was talking to a pre-smartphone audience). So, he told them to take whatever was causing them to lust – that thing that kept tripping them up over and over – and to get rid of it. Don’t try to be stronger, don’t try to resist one more time, just make it so you can’t see that thing anymore. 

So, in our modern context, what does “gouging out your eye” look like? Well, maybe there are some apps you need to delete from your phone. What restrictions do you need someone you trust to put into place for you? Where are you finding these things you don’t feel good about looking at, and how can you block them? Today, reach out to a friend, coach, or maybe a parent and ask them to help you protect your eyes. (You know, so you don’t have to wear an eyepatch for the rest of your life.)

Side note: when you read the part about being thrown into hell, he is NOT saying that if you lust you’re going to hell. He’s talking about the downward spiral lust (or any sin) can lead you on where you fall deeper and deeper into it and ultimately CHOOSE to reject Jesus.