Matthew 5:27-30 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
Breaking covenant with a mate is not an unreflective act. No, a covenant breaking attitude originates in the hearts and minds of people. The eye, the hand, or any part of your body does not originate thought, only the mind. When people desire to be unfaithful to their spouse, they plan it in their minds, not in their hands nor in their eyes. They intend to commit an act of unfaithfulness, failing to fulfill their marital vows to their spouses. In the above focus Jesus talks about an earnest oath to another person and also to God. No other commitment is greater than a solemn covenant with others in this world. Jesus see this covenant breaking between two people as so serious that He says their destination in the afterlife is involved: It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. Why hell, if the adulterous behavior is accepted by both members of the union. Some marriages are brokered with that kind of condition: both partners are to be free to hook up with someone else whenever their desires are toward others. While this agreement of licentiousness may not work too well in reality, at least there is a written or verbal agreement between the couple about adulterous affairs. Why should two people with such an arrangement be considered hell-bound, if they both agree that sexual promiscuity is an acceptable activity in their married lives? The solemnity of the marriage covenant is not based on what men or women think about it; honoring the vows of marriage is based on what God thinks about the relationship. To God, a covenant is a blood agreement, or so serious that the bond “till death do us part” cannot be dissolved by carnal decisions. As Paul wrote, For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. (Romans 7:2) In a marriage ceremony we are binding ourselves to another permanently. We are asking God to see us as a new creation, under one name, not two. In essence, we swear an oath to God to see us as one in him. However in the reality of how people tend to behave, we do not have to believe in God or any power beyond our own words. But in society as a whole man’s agreements with each other depend on the validity and reliability of our words, oaths, and covenants. If our words mean nothing or are capricious, disorder and confusion is the result. When every man or woman does his or her own thing, cooperation and harmony fall apart. When vows are not important or are broken easily, chaos ensues. Whether or not you place your solemn oaths before God, the consequences of breaking covenants spawns disruptions, quarrels, mayhem, and with countries even wars. Of course, this is the problem with God’s creation, realized or not. His intentions for his creation is longevity, peace and unity, not hurt and death. Yet rather than following God and keeping our word, we all, like sheep, have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way. (Isaiah 53:6)
In today’s verses, we see Jesus talking about marriage covenants, but in reality he is referring to all covenants, including with the agreement between God and man in the Garden. Man was to accept the Creator’s authority, the relationship with God was to be permanent, never ending. But, because of an adverse decision to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, man moved away from God’s absolute authority. Man became an entity unto himself. He now inherited not life, but death, for God is the giver of life. By breaking the covenant of life with God, a destructive force became the dynamic covering human existence: sin. Sin became a way of life; covenant breaking became a way of life. To obey God and be part of the intended bonded relationship between man and God was now dependent on man’s heart. Would he be faithful to the Creator or would he go his own way; would he keep covenant with God or would he seek his own authority or other gods? In leaving the safety and protection of the Garden, the decision to stay bonded was not God’s purview but man’s. Would man chase after other authority or gods or wayward lifestyles or would he remain faithful to the One who made him? But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deuteronomy 30:17-20) Moses warned the chosen, delivered from the hands of Satan, the deceiver, to remain faithful to God, to keep their covenant with God. Of course, even the chosen were unable to keep their own words of “We will do it.” We will keep our covenant with the Almighty God. They failed so miserably to keep their oath to God that God finally dispersed them throughout the world. Judgment fell on them because they failed to keep their marital commitment of being faithfully bonded to God forever. When God’s creation fails to choose life, they automatically choose death and reject God’s gift of life. As the Bible tells us, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Breaking covenant with each other or with God is not something the hand does or the eye does—it is a heart condition. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. The heart’s decision is paramount in breaking any allegiance. We decide in the heart what we want to do or what we do not want to do. We often do not want to accept our decisions as something that emitted from our hearts, but every sin begins from the sin within us. Our excuses will be that others distracted us, caused us to make aberrant, hurtful decisions. If only our spouses knew how to talk to us better or understood us better or would love us better, then I would not have fallen into illicit activity. Excuses attempt to hide the heart’s wickedness. Of course, all of this is true of our relationship with God. We complain, “God just does not come across when I really need him. He seems to be aloof from me, not giving the richness in life that I deserve. I am better suited to another life, a more self-oriented life. Why should I serve a god that seems unknowable, and so on.” We give ourselves justifications for breaking our covenant with him based on our wants. Jesus told the people, Verily, verily, I say unto you, You seek me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves, and were filled. (John 6:26) As we said earlier, covenant breaking is serious in God’s eyes, for failure to keep your word depicts the initial waywardness of man’s heart: Adam and Eve’s decision to break from God. Covenant breaking is the most serious mistake humans can make in this life, illustrative of man’s disobedience, his errant decision to turn from God. We are to keep our oaths with men and with God. The solemn union of marriage should be considered as something God desires and approves. If we swear allegiance to someone in a marital contract before God, we ought to keep our word, foregoing the wandering eye or the coveting of the flesh. Our allegiance to our spouse should be strong and enduring. Although God considers covenant breaking serious, we are all covenant breakers. We all have wandering eyes or we are unfaithful in our hearts in other areas at other times. As we read in the word, For as he (a man) thinks in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7) We might be faithful to our marriage, but we in many ways find ourselves unfaithful to the Creator as we lust for worldly things. He made us, He deserves our everlasting allegiance to him. We should keep the commandments of God: his authority should be evident in our thoughts and our actions. But God heals covenant breakers through the blood of Jesus Christ. Even though we find ourselves not completely faithful at times in thoughts and actions, the enduring love of God has sent us a Savior to heal the broken parts of our lives. No matter what covenants you have broken with man or God, Jesus has paid the complete price for those wayward decisions, those broken relationships. He is completely good to us, for He has redeemed us from our faults and weaknesses. Bring your brokenness to him and He will make you whole again.
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