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You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; 28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 Now if your right eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into bhell. 30 And if your right hand is causing you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into bhell. [1]

~Jesus (Matthew 5:27-30)

The workplace presents an unfortunate place for romance and affairs. We all know someone who has an affair with someone at work. Lunches, happy hours, dinners, long hours, and frequency of contact create a willing environment for wandering.

Jesus frames it for us in a whole different way. As his disciples, we must deal with the real problem. We must deal with the real issue which is our lust. If we do not, it will lead to real problems at work. It could cost us our jobs.

This is an issue of our heart, but it does become a public issue at work if we are well known as a flirt, someone who puts women in awkward situations or harasses women. This is an issue that can ruin our testimony at work. This is an issue that can ruin our careers. This is an issue that can ruin our marriages.

What should we do? Jesus tells us to deal with the lust in our lives aggressively. “Tear it out” and “cut it off”. Jesus is serious. We must get a handle on this. We need to have spiritual surgery and deal with the sources that lead us to lust at work.

  • Do we look at pornography? Stop and tear it out of your life completely.
  • Do certain TV shows cause our minds to wander? Do not watch them. Cut it off!
  • Do we have friends that lead us astray in wrong thinking? Cut them out of our lives.
  • Does attending certain functions, like “happy hours” and dinners create temptation in our lives? Cut out going to them when we can.
  • Look at everything that is causing the lust and cut it out. Do it now. Be aggressive. Do not let it take hold of you.

We know that adultery begins with lust in our hearts. Jesus is clear about this. Scripture after scripture agrees. We must control ourselves. This is imperative for us at work.

  • Proverbs 6:25 (ESV) —Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;
  • Matthew 5:27–28 (ESV) — 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his hear
  • 2 Samuel 11:2–3 (ESV) — 2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
  • Job 31:1 (ESV) — “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?
  • Job 31:9 (ESV) — 9 “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,
  • Jeremiah 5:8 (ESV) — 8 They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.
  • Matthew 15:19 (ESV) — 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

[1] New American Standard Bible. (2020). (Mt 5:27–30). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.