At this point in my life, I believe that I have 6 email addresses. 6! (And I may be leaving out one somewhere.) Though that seems like a lot, there are reasons for each of them, and most of them filter through one email app on my phone. So, I don’t have to check emails in 6 different locations, and it’s really not that bad. Still, when the national average per person is less than 2, 6 email addresses seems to be a lot.
Here’s the summary:
- I have my primary address which is used for church/personal/general correspondence. You’re welcome to email me there (pastorchrismorris@yahoo.com)
- I have a secondary address which had been my primary address. It stemmed from my time running a photography business.
- I have an another email address from another photography business.
- I have an email address for selling items and using eBay.
- I have an address given to me by the seminary for the classwork that I am required to take.
- Finally, I have the email address which I classify as “everything else.”
Oh, I also established an email address for the churches’ YouTube page (rarely, rarely checked), and I’ve had at least one personal email that I’ve let expire, and a couple others that are no longer in existence.
It’s a lot of email.
Do you know the email account that is the most annoying? The one for “everything else.”
You see, it is the one that I use for purchases, for online store accounts, to ask questions of websites when I need assistance, and things like that. All of that isn’t necessarily bad. The problem? Unwanted emails. SPAM (and not the spiced meat served in a can). Because I have used this email for so many sites, it gets the bulk of the unwanted “junk”, the unsolicited advertisements, the undesired attempts to gain a “click” to whatever link, to gain a like, or to gain some $$$. Of all of my email addresses, that one is the worst.
Even though it is the worst, I still have it come through my phone. Why? Well, I want the updates on the purchases, the answers to the questions, I want the use of it. I just don’t want the junk. So, on a multiple-times-a-day basis, I check all of the email on my phone, and I delete the junk. Especially from that account.
The other day, as I was deleting the junk (and looking to see if there was anything important), one of the titles caught my attention. It read:
“It doesn’t hurt to look.”
It doesn’t hurt to look? Well, let me just check to see who sent this, maybe they are running a promotional on something that I “need”.
The sender? eharmony.com (For those of you who don’t know, eharmony.com is a matchmaking website, a site supposedly dedicated to helping people find a harmonious match…I’ve seen the commercials, never visited the webpage.)
“It doesn’t hurt to look.” ~ eharmony.com
The message here, was clear. I could look for a match. I could check out their website. I could see who is “available” in my area. After all, it doesn’t hurt to look.
The email message was immediately deleted, never to be opened or seen again.
“It doesn’t hurt to look?” eharmony.com? For me?
ABSOLUTELY, COMPLETELY, CATEGORICALLY, EMPIRICALLY, ONE MILLION PERCENT WRONG!!!! ENTIRELY FALSE. NO TRUTH TO THAT STATEMENT WHATSOEVER.
Now, I’m not saying the website is the pinnacle of evil, or that it should never in any occasion be used by anyone. But for me, a married man who is trying to serve Jesus and my family, the only thing that could come from me looking at that website is hurt. “It doesn’t hurt to look?” That would only be true in my case if you add the word “just”.
It doesn’t “just" hurt to look.
It wounds, it scars, it incapacitates, it disables, it impairs, it demolishes, it tears apart, it wrecks, it destroys, it…
I hope you get the point. Looking is not always just some innocent thing with no consequences. In fact, where we look is very, very important.
There is a children’s song that says “O be careful little eyes what you see. O be careful little eyes what you see. For the Father up above is looking down in love. So, be careful little eyes what you see.”
This song shouldn’t be limited to children. It should be an anthem for the church. Looking can have dire consequences. It can ruin relationships. It can destroy things. Looking can hurt. It can hurt a lot.
Don’t believe me?
Look at what Jesus says:
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23)
Just so we’re clear. Jesus isn’t talking about whether or not you have eye “floaties”, suffer from glaucoma, wear glasses, or even if you’re legally blind. Jesus is talking about what we fix our eyes upon. If we focus on that which is “light”, our body will be full of light. If we focus on that which is “dark”, our body will be full of darkness.
If I spend my time looking at what websites like eharmony has to offer (or worse), that will absolutely fill my body with darkness. My eyes will take in images that are not meant to be seen by me. My mind will focus on those images and carry them with me, even when I’m not directly looking at them. My heart and my spirit will be filled with darkness instead of light. This will hurt my relationship with myself. It will hurt my relationship with my wife. It will hurt my relationship with my son. It will hurt my relationship with my church. It will hurt my relationship with God. Looking at darkness leads to darkness of the soul.
Now, before we quickly think, “I don’t have a problem with that!”, let’s remember this isn’t just limited to attraction to the opposite gender. Say you keep looking at Kay Jewelers at some ring you can’t afford. Say you keep looking at your neighbors and the life they have that you want. Say you keep looking at ______. You fill in the blank. You know what draws you away and leads you into darkness. You know what candy bar aisle to avoid when you’re on a diet. You know where you shouldn’t look.
Here’s the thing. Looking rarely just stays at looking. It leads to thinking, to feeling, to processing, to storing, to wanting, to coveting, to comparing, to acting, to being filled and defined by the objects that we have been viewing. One day we are looking at darkness. The next we find that we are filled with it.
“It doesn’t hurt to look?”
Well, that depends.
It doesn’t hurt to look at things that are in the light.
It absolutely kills to look at things that are in the darkness.
Just so we’re even clearer, this applies to our other senses as well.
The song continues, “O be careful little ears what you hear, tongue what you say, hands what you do, feet where you go…” The things we look at, the things we gaze upon, the things that we hear and listen to, the messages we receive or seek, the things we set about doing, the things where our feet travel…all of these things make a difference. All of these things affect our overall health and our relationship with ourselves, with others, and most importantly, with God.
I think, sometimes, we hear a song like that and we end early. We think that the ending is “For the Father up above is looking.”
We think, “Be careful little eyes what you see…for God is looking.” God is watching. God is waiting for you to slip up. What we miss is the fact that God is watching in LOVE.
God wants us to prioritize what we see/what we hear/the things we consume because he loves us. Plus, God knows…when we focus on the dark, we become dark. When we focus on the light, our whole body will be full of light. God wants for us to be full of light because it is best for us, and because God is light. In Him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5) God desires for us to be in Him, to be in fellowship with Him, to be in relationship with Him, to be one with Him (John 17:21), and that is not possible when we are full of darkness.
Friends, I’m sure there will be occasions when the darkness beckons, “It doesn’t hurt to look.” My hope is that you will swat that thought away quickly, that you will know that where we look does make a difference, and that you will seek to look at the light.
O be careful little eyes what you see.
~ Pastor Chris
