Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry – Colossians 3:5.

Mortify means to put to death. Members are used as a figure of speech, put in place of the various sins that exist in and seek to express themselves through different “members” of the human body.

The believer is instructed to mortify themselves; God is not going to do it for them. God will assist us to do so if we have a heart and mind to do so. We have to guard our eyes; what goes into the eyes will influence our mind and heart.

Satan influenced Eve by telling her that if she ate of the tree that was forbidden that her eyes would be opened and she would be like the gods, knowing good and evil. Eve and Adam were already like God because they were created in the image of God. There was no evil in the garden except for Satan, so there was no reason for her eyes to be opened to know good and evil.

God gave Adam and Eve free choice to follow instructions or disobey them. Just as He has given to every person a choice to serve Him or reject Him. To follow His instructions or dismiss them. Eyes have led many away from God, from the things they saw that entered their mind and heart and were carried out by their actions.

Job stated he made a covenant with his eyes (I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid – Job 31:1). Job recognised that the eye is the main avenue for temptation. Temptation is not always sexual. It can be watching someone and coveting to be like them or have what they have. Purchasing items you know you can’t afford. As well as eyeing someone’s spouse, the forbidden fruit.

King David’s eyes influenced him to commit adultery with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife (And it came to pass in an evening tide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon – 2nd Samuel 11:2). His eyes were gazing and coveting someone’s else wife.

Not only did he look at her, he sent for her by a messenger (And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from uncleanness: and she return unto her house – 2nd Samuel 11:4). His eyes made him (1) Covet what was not his (2) Committed adultery (3) Impregnated a woman that was not his wife (4)Schemed to make a plan to hide his sin (5) committed murder (6) Brought someone else in his sin by trying to cover the sin. Now Joab is just as guilty as David because he knew what David had done, and he agreed with David to place Uriah in the battle where he would be killed.

Sins we carry out sometimes involve others. They, too, will be punished for the sins committed if they agree to the sin. The Bible states that how can two walk together unless they agree. If we agree with something wrong, we are just as guilty as the person who sinned. We have to guard our eyes to keep actions from the heart (Keep thy heart with diligence; for out of it are the issues of life – Proverbs 4:23).

Some things we see don’t manifest instantaneously, but sooner or later, if we keep watching the same thing, we will begin to have actions we saw that do not glorify God. Ahab saw Naboth’s vineyard, and he desired to have it. Naboth wouldn’t sell the vineyard based on the inheritance regulations of the law of Moses (Leviticus 25:23-28; Numbers 36:7-9).

Because Naboth wouldn’t sell the land, Ahab’s wife Jezebel wrote a letter in the king’s name, sending it to the elders and nobles of the city. She proclaimed a fast, placed Naboth in the spotlight, and then had two men lie on Naboth that he blasphemed God, and they stoned him to death.

How many times have we coveted what our sisters or brothers have and gone to any length to get what they have? Even if it means lying on them, discredit their character. We murdered them with our mouths and lies about them.

The Bible instructs the believer to be a living sacrifice (I BESEECH, you therefore, bretheren, by the mecies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service – Romans 12:1). The sacrifice is to make an offering of oneself to God, to give up one thing for the sake of another. As Christians, we sacrifice our desires to align with God’s desires. We sacrifice our time, talent, money, as well as every body part to the Lord, holy and unblameable.

We’re in a dispensation where people don’t want to hear sound doctrine. Sound doctrine is in alignment with God’s instructions for His people. The preached and taught Word is God’s ordained means to prevent defection from the truth. Exhortation messages are good, but sometimes people need to be taught about heaven and hell. Taught about the Fruit of the Spirit, the Gifts of the Spirit, being baptized in the Holy Spirit, and the return of Jesus.

Attending church is not an avenue to ensure us heaven unless there is sound doctrine and it’s applied to one’s life. Death is real, heaven and hell are real, and we must live as we believe them. Heaven and hell are the choices of the individual. They decide where they will spend eternity. Serve God in the beauty of holiness, and you have a promise from the Lord that you will live with Him for eternity (That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life – John 3:15).