Can you describe the function that the eyes play in expressing the heart? Can you give an example of the communicative power of “body language”? Do you have any thoughts on how our COVID world with its Zoom meetings has impacted the ability to communicate lovingly, with the use of the eyes and the body?
If the body speaks a language, and that body language is supposed to translate the Father’s own speech about himself … What is the Father saying about himself in the Seventh Good Word? What are some ways that we fail and succeed in echoing the self-disclosing speech of the Father through our “body language” in general, and through the ethical sexual actions of our bodies in particular?
Is lusting with the eyes the same as physical adultery? Why or why not?
Did this message convict you of the ways you’ve failed to use your eyes and body to speak of the Father’s faithfulness shown in the Son? Do you want to make an appointment with a pastor for some support as you begin to process some of that conviction you’re under?
Did this message trigger some emotions from past experiences in which you have been the object of the lustful gaze of objectifying eyes? Have you been taken advantage of and discarded by someone’s physical breach of the Seventh Word? Do you have someone with whom you can process these emotions safely? If not, can you reach out to someone, who might know someone with whom you can talk it through?
If you are single—whether you think you might be married at some point or not—what do you make of the Bible’s recurring metaphor of marriage to describe God’s marriage to Israel (OT), and the Father’s betrothal of Christ and the Church (NT)? What do you make of the insistence that human marital fidelity (and sexual holiness in general) is meant to mirror the divine-human relationship? Does the image resonate? If so, how and why? If not, what makes it difficult for this biblical theme to resonate and feel relevant to you?
If you are married, what is the one thing you can do with the language of your eyes and of your body to speak more truly about the Good Father’s fidelity to his people and to his promises? What is the one heart-level change that you need to pray for and practice toward?
