Sex in the Eye

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:14

Just knowing myself and how the male mind works, I don’t allow movies with sexually provocative scenes or nudity at our house. I do this for my own sake and for that of my family. I know what a visual person I am, and I know how my mind holds those images, returning to them over and over, once they enter my eyes. With sex and nudity, where my eyes go, my brain follows.

You may find this old-fashioned and prudish. I’m not telling you what to do though. I’m just relaying my own experience. When I allow my eyes to be distracted from where they should be, my mind follows. Soon, my feet follow. I’m not saying that watching sex on TV is going to make me go out and live a promiscuous lifestyle. I’m saying that recovery from addiction, for me, means keeping my eyes on God and that any distraction from him is a threat to my sobriety. In the past, when I’ve allowed my appetite to run wild, the end has always been a return to drug addiction.

In today’s passage, Jesus explained this phenomenon using an Old Testament story to illustrate salvation. In the narrative, the Israelites were afflicted by biting, poisonous snakes. Those who had been bitten, simply needed to look upon a bronze serpent that Moses had made at God’s command, and they were healed.

Jesus said that just as the Israelites needed to look to the bronze statue for healing, we too, must look to Christ to find eternal life. Unlike the Israelites of old though, this is not a once-and-done event for us. If we want to know authentic life, faith, and recovery, we must keep our eyes on Christ. Where our eyes go, our brain, feet, and lives will follow.

The world though, is full of distractions. We’re daily bombarded by all manner of shiny temptations. If I want my life to go in a certain direction, I must keep my eyes on that goal. If I want faith, life, and recovery, I must daily do what it takes to keep my eyes on Christ. It may seem old fashioned, but, because I don’t want to go back to my old life, I’ll continue to keep my eyes focused on the new one.