Read Matthew 5:27-30

“But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

In Matthew chapter 5 from verse 21 through to verse 48 we see Jesus radically altering who we identify as “sinners” and what qualifies as ‘sin’.

Jesus’ listeners, like many of us, liked to think that sin – murder, anger, adultery, false promises etc – is primarily a problem that other people struggle with and will be judged for. Just like His listeners, we use our own categories of sin to declare ourselves “good” and others “sinners”. However, Jesus expands our definitions of what sin is and reveals that sin isn’t “out there” with them but “in here” with me.

To illustrate, Jesus says that if you have imagined a sexual fantasy with someone you’re not married to, then you are to be judged as equally sinful as the person who acts out the adulterous fantasy in real life! In a world of readily available media that facilitates or intentionally promotes sexual fantasy, this may seem quite confronting or even impossible to live out. 

Jesus is leading us to conclude that these sins that we desire to enact but restrain ourselves from physically committing (adultery, murder, theft, lying etc) are the sins that reveal not only the reality of our hearts but also the capacity of our hearts.

See, Jesus’ command is not just to remove anything in your life that causes you to sin but to transform the desires of your heart entirely. He knows that if we allow Him access to the very centre of our lives, he can transform our hearts to operate with the full capacity that he originally intended.

Really, Jesus is inviting us to truly “live our best lives”. Despite our ability to control any external, observable sin (e.g. adultery, sexual perversion), when we foster sinful sexual desires in our hearts it condemns us to live internally like our worst selves. However, when we learn to foster a life free from sexual perversion in our hearts, our newly found purity encourages us to become like Christ – truly loving those around us without entanglement or ulterior motives. Not only is this Jesus’ invitation to us, but this is the life we all know we are designed for and desire to live!

God’s heart for his people is not just that they be single and celibate or married and faithful, but pure in heart just like him. As you pursue this renewed heart be mindful that you are working with God, not just for him. He gives both his Holy Spirit and his truth in the Bible to renew our hearts to be like his. So, I encourage you to take the step of asking him to renew your heart from the inside out.