Key Bible Verse: "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust upon a young woman" (Job 31:1). Bonus Reading:Job 31:9–12

Steve, a Christian friend, confessed to me that he struggled with viewing pornographic images on the Internet. He recalled how one night he was at a site that pictured nude women in various poses, next to inviting screen names and links to contact info (for a fee) for each. The pictures of the two Steve found most inviting were too small on his screen to see much detail.

So he devised a way to save the images and later open them in another program that could enlarge them. But when he tried enlarging, Steve related, "The images were all fuzzy. I could see skin color, but that's about it. It was ugly to look at."

"That's actually appropriate, if you think about it," I said. "Even if you'd seen the attractive bodies you wanted to, they'd have been distorted pictures of those women as human beings."

We looked at [today's Key Bible Verse] together, and saw that Job, born with weaknesses just like us, had avoided looking lustfully at a woman. If Job could, we agreed, there is hope for every other guy. Steve realized he needed to change how his eyes viewed the opposite sex. He made a pact with them, and invited ongoing accountability.

My Response: Have I reached the point where I'm desperate to change? Why or why not?

Thought to Apply: Many a dangerous temptation comes to us in fine colors that are but skin-deep.