More than just beauty

Many years ago I spoke with a friend about the struggle with looking at a woman lustfully…appreciating and admiring a woman’s beauty too much or in the wrong way…beauty, seduction, attraction…

He told me that he dealt with it by thinking to himself that such a woman has issues…problems…baggage. In other words, there was a whole lot more to such a woman than mere beauty.

Now at that time what my friend told me made sense. But even though I understood it, I didn’t get it. Somehow, amazingly, that fact did not help me any. I didn’t get it.

Fast forward to many years later. Sometime this year I heard a good sermon (from John MacArthur) about the Proverbs 31 woman. He talked abut a verse that I had memorized years ago:

“Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain…” (Proverbs 31:30a)

That combined with some telling verses elsewhere in Proverbs and hearkening back to what my friend told me years ago, the simple truth finally came through and I got it!

This may seem like, “duh” to you, but to me it’s still fresh and powerful! (I love it when God’s word comes through to me.) Let me see if I can explain it in my own words.

Picture a woman. Beautiful. Pretty. Beauty is admirable, attractive…and the tendency is to be tempted to long for that goodness. Indeed, beauty is great. God made it! God made woman, for example. And Adam said, “Wo…man!” Then they hooked up as God intended. (And the sixth day was good, very good…)

But wait! Thou, O man who art tempted thus. Gouge out thine eye lest thou lust!!!

Lurking behind the beautiful facade could very well be a whole lot of trouble. What person does not have baggage, issues, problems? What’s worse, such-n-such particular woman could have some real evils, like a Jezebel or Delilah, or the adulteress in Proverbs who seduces men who know not they are led to the slaughter.

The simple point is to not be a fool and stop thinking beyond the beauty of a woman. A beautiful woman has a whole lot more hidden inside than the beauty on the outside. You gotta stop and think about what dangers could be truly waiting in such a woman. Thinking rationally like this instead of being googly-eyed at a woman who is not and can not be yours is a powerful antidote to lust.

So this is simple. But how easy do we men find that we can forget where we put the antidote? One thing that helps is to re-read the Proverbs passages that deal with the adulteress. This keeps the antidote potent.

So anyways, hope that is a good reminder to you guys (or gals) who continue to fight such common sins like lust.