The first look is free. You’re responsible for the second one.
This maxim came from my friend John Kasay and his wife, Laura. I once asked him, as an NFL kicker, what it was like to be on the sidelines with all the scantily clad cheerleaders dancing suggestively all around him.
That’s when he shared the quote from Laura with me.
Laura told John that the first look is impossible to prevent. Temptations will come out of the blue, apparently from nowhere, but probably a demonically inspired temptation. We can’t keep them from entering our minds.
But the second look - that one, we are responsible for.
How can we control the second look? Learn from Job: “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman” (Job 31:1 NIV).
Our eyes are the window to our souls. We can’t control thoughts coming to us. But we can control if we let them lodge there.
The first look is free. The second is your responsibility.