For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
1 John 2:16 NIV
The lust of the eyes is one of the powerful instruments the devil uses to derail a man. He brings the temptation of that which is visible. The eyes are designed to see, and they always seek to see. However, the plan of God is that what we would see is Him. God’s desire is that we see even beyond our sight. The thing is that the enemy knows the power of sight, and with that, he schemes to tamper with what we see. He continues to sponsor things that are appealing to the eyes. But a man who is not dead to the flesh will bind himself by what he sees.
The whole world of men is ruled by the strong desire of the eyes. What is beautiful and shiny easily moves us because it appeals to our lust. Even from the bible, we see men and women who succumbed to what they saw. Remember Lot’s wife. She looked back to see the glory of Sodom and ruined herself. Because David was working about when kings were on the battlefield, he beheld another man’s wife and committed a lot of atrocities. Also, Samson, because his eyes saw a woman, his mind forgot the plans of God for his life.
The eyes are one of the gateways to a man’s life. This is why we must overcome the lust of the eyes. So, diligently guard your eye gate. Don’t be like Solomon, who decided to have everything his eyes could see. In the end, what was his verdict? Vanity! Note that the world system is very subtle, and it makes everything seem good. It plants doubt, and that is the trick. The world system makes it seem like there’s nothing wrong with it because it is selling what looks good. However, it obscures the pattern of the kingdom and makes everything about Jesus unattractive. Beware of the lust of the eyes!
