Violations Of The Heart
According to Pravda.Ru:
In Moscow, a driver received a fine for crossing a full-line. However, the photo made by traffic cameras showed that the vehicle was traveling without any violation of traffic rules.
The man could not understand the reason for which he was fined. Having studied the traffic cam photo in detail, he realized that it was the shadow of his vehicle that crossed the full line.
"Cameras want us to pay fines even if car shadows violate traffic rules," the man wrote on drive2.ru website.
Clearly, this person didn't actually do anything wrong. But his run-in with the law illustrates the way many people think about the motives and intentions behind their own actions. They think of them as mere shadows, not important enough to be counted as violations against God’s laws. They can't understand how they could be judged for such things. But Jesus taught that violations in spirit are just as significant as violations in action.
“But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).
In other words, sins of the heart are real sins!
Ostrich Eyes
You’ve heard the expression, “His eyes were bigger than his stomach.” Well here’s another one: “His eyes were bigger than his brains”—an ostrich brain, that is. An ostrich’s brain is no larger than its eyeball—about 2 inches.
Are you a spiritual ostrich, with eyes that are bigger than your brains? Do you lust after whatever you see. Does the sight of a shiny new car tempt you to want to buy it, whether you can afford the payment or not? Does an attractive member of the opposite sex cause you to lust after them?
The wise, by contrast, are content with what they have and know how to live within their means.
“Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are the eyes of man” (Proverbs 27:20) … “For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world” (1 John 2:16, NLT).
No More Kisses for Oscar Wilde’s Tomb
This month marks the 111th anniversary of the death of writer Oscar Wilde (author, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ERNEST, et al). So beloved a literary giant was he that countless thousands have made pilgrimage to his tomb, and countless admiring fans have for decades planted lipstick kisses all over his headstone. While very romantic and endearing, the misguided acts of adoration actually damaged the tomb to a point nearly beyond repair. It seems that the oils in the lipstick wore away at the stone’s surface, making it increasingly more porous with each cleaning. Cemetery officials finally said “enough!” Recently closed for repair, the tomb was just this week reopened, unveiling a cleaned and secure gravestone entirely encased in glass to prevent any further damage.
If misguided or misplaced affection can distroy one's tombstone, imagine what it can do to one's soul. Guard your heart against vain and superficial affections. They will only serve to sap you of your spiritual strength, dignity and beauty—pursuing you even to the grave.
”Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman and all other vain affections, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. None who go to her return or attain the paths of life” (Proverbs 2:16-19).