A Covenant With Mine Eyes

Job 31:1 says, “I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?”
After Job lost practically everything he had, his wife was not such a helpmate any longer. She left when everything else left. She was perfectly fine as long as he had his material possessions, but when he hit rock bottom, she left in a hurry instead of helping him fight through the pain. Job 2:9-10 says, “9Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. 10But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” She forsook everything that was good, even telling Job to curse God and die, but Job continued to hold fast to his integrity because his God was a friend that stood closer than any brother. He chose to maintain a covenant that is oftentimes overlooked in scripture, and that is the covenant with his eyes. You can lose a lot of things in this life, but do not lose your salvation and eternal hope in God! Job would even go onto say, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him” (Job 13:15). He had so much faith and trust in God and His providence that he knew that the LORD knew what was best, and if that even meant his death, so be it. How much different would our lives be if we have that type of faith? Your family and friends may give up on God and even you, but do not quit. Hold onto your faith in God, and faith will hold onto you!
 
If someone bails out on you when the going gets rough and tough, then they truly do not love you, neither are they your friends. Today, we have a lot of men who have quite a number of misconceptions. First, they confuse love and lust. Love is when you seek to fulfill the needs of someone else. Lust is when you seek to fulfill your own desires. Relationships that are built on lust do not succeed, but love is the most powerful force in nature. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 in the NLT says, “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” This is true love, and it should be the foundation of your relationship. Love always seeks for the best interest of someone else, and it perseveres, while lust only takes advantage of others. Lust seeks to fulfill a sexual desire and is blinded by the now moment rather than look out and see where certain decisions can lead. Jesus did not lust, but He lived out His message of love. You are not a man because you can have sex and make children. You are a man because you can be faithful to the ones you claim to love, your wife and your children. It is not about what makes a person feel good, but rather what stabilizes their relationship, and that is love!
 
A perfect way to realize that a relationship is based on lust is cohabitation. All cohabitation is is obtaining the benefits of marriage without the sacrifice. No dedication is required! Then, you have those who constantly cheat on the girlfriends or wives. They cannot settle down and be faithful! Again, the benefits without the sacrifice. Finally, you have those, who before marriage, perfect the art of breaking up, that when things begin to heat up they split up. Breaking up and getting back together time and time again is practicing for divorce! When half of marriages result in divorce, even those within the body of Christ, we need to get to the root of the problems rather than talk about the symptoms. We need to get back to husbands loving their wives, wives submitting their husbands, and children obeying their parents.
 
If you truly love someone, then you will make a Job kind-of covenant, a covenant with your eyes. It is a kind-of covenant that forces you to go the extra mile when you do not have to to assure of your closeness with God and live a life that pleases Him. It allows you to walk in love rather than lust. 1 John 2:15-17 says, “15Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” The lust of the eyes, coveting after things or people that do not belong to you, is enmity with God and very detrimental to your soul and purpose in Him. You have to be in control of your eyes because they are truly the gateway to your soul. When you allow things to register with your eyes and in your senses, such as pornography, it can be destructive in your marriage, destiny and your spiritual walk with God. You have to uproot that seed before it harvests and manifests into a stronghold over your life that can take a great deal of time to overcome.