Heard part of an interview with Stephen Arterburn the other night. He’s the author of Every Man’s Battle, subtitled Winning the War on Sexual Temptation One Victory at a Time. Some talk on a good text, Job 31:1: “I made a covenant with mine eyes.” Got me thinking how common used to be the admonition, following on these words and on Matthew 18:9 (“If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out …”) and other texts, that we practice “custody of the eyes.” Not that it’s easy. When Abercrombie & Fitch advertise in the way that they have, when even so previously distinguished a man as Robert Dole involves himself in (to use a currently popular word) ephebophilia to hawk Pepsi, well, what help the wider culture gives us is certainly slight.



But the heart would find a path to spiritual adultery somehow, wouldn’t it? John Calvin spoke nothing but truth when he said that the heart is an idol-maker. We’ll need to remember Proverbs 4:23: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”