Eyetraps

Proverbs 6:24 to preserve you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. 25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes; 26 for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life. 27 Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? 28 Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? I was in the checkout line at Publix the other day and was caught off guard. The rows of magazines that were staring me in the face were rather risque. The pictures and the words on the cover whispered "come inside and take a deeper whiff of sex". I honestly came to buy some Powerade, and found myself locked in spiritual battle praying for God to guard my heart as sinful desire was tugging deep at my soul. I walked away thanking my God for His strength in not being captured by lust and moving on. My thoughts then raced towards the moral and spiritual state of our culture. I wasn't in a strip club or bar battling for sexual purity. I was in the local grocery store and what was laid out in plain view where eyetraps designed to capture my money and soul. Proverbs six above is talking about being captured by the lust of an adulteress woman. A real woman. Our tendency will always be to dismiss our own battle with lust as "its just a men's health magazine, not a real woman". As we downplay the possible effects of our soul being captivated by scantily clad, near perfect thanks to plastic surgery images, as we walk into the trap Solomon is warning us about. He asks, "can you carry fire next to your chest and not burn your clothes?" Well, neither can you carry the fire of lust inside your soul and not be scorched by the danger of its flames. We would all do well to listen to Solomon's warning : "Do not let her capture you with her eyelashes". He is obviously not talking about being caught physically by her eyelashes, but something much deeper. Burning lust captures the souls of men and women that is a much deeper hold. Lustful desire snuffs out our worship and love for Christ and our spouses. Its trap is to leave us wanting more than what we have, and in turn feeling unsatisfied with the blessings God has given us. If we continue down that path being unsatisfied with God and our marriages our even God's designed singleness, we are firmly caught in a trap with sin scorching our souls from the inside out. The sad reality is our culture is sunk deeply into the trap as a whole and our only hope is for Christ to heal our souls and guard our eyes and hearts. Think I am wrong? Maybe just a little to serious? In the US, the Pornography market is about $10 billion per year and prostitution is estimated at about $11 billion. The plastic surgery market is estimated at almost $2 billion, most of which is vanity induced. That's $23 billion for those counting at home and that doesn't count much of what our lust drives us to that just happens not to be rated x. It doesn't count what is spent on non- taxed prostitution, cost of affairs, divorce attorney's as a result of affairs. It also doesn't include the cost for psychiatrists, pills and treatment for all of the mental and spiritual collateral damage that occur in the wake of lust's power. I'm afraid to add all of that up, but it is very safe to say that the "Lust Market" easily crests the $30-%40 billion dollar market in the US. All because we are captured by the flesh, not our God. In a country that claims to be predominately Christian, it leaves plenty of room for speculation as to who or what truly has us captivated, and in turn is our God. Just as a baseline for comparison, the IMB (international mission board) budget is $324 million this year and they are by far the largest sending agency in the US. This fact begs the question: "What mission are you personally on?". God's Glory is shining brightly through Christ's Cross, are you captivated by that? Or are you caught in an eyetrap?