God Deals With the World As Is
Standards of Christian Living – Part III
God Deals With the World as It Is
One of the things I’ve learnt from years of reading and studying the Old Testament laws—and seeing how they regulate every aspect of Jewish life—is this: God deals with the world not as it should be but as it is. Let that sink in.
For example, Leviticus forbids sexual perversions, including bestiality. It also contains laws about slavery—but this does not mean God endorses it. Sadly, some European colonizers and later Americans misused these laws to justify the evil enslavement of Africans and others.
God gave these laws to govern His people. These were people you wouldn’t expect to commit such acts, yet God gave the laws knowing someone eventually would. God deals with the world not as it should be, but as it is.
Even as Christians, we don’t always live as God wants. This is why Jesus taught us to pray:
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” – Matthew 6:10 KJV
The world is a broken place, and God engages with it fully aware of human weakness. This doesn’t mean His standards are flexible—no, His Word is absolute truth.
Absolute Truths and the Grey Areas
Some things are black-and-white: God forbids homosexuality, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, stealing, slander, and covetousness. Clear. Nonnegotiable.
Other areas are grey—not because God’s morality is grey, but because Scripture applies principles rather than specifics. The grey areas of Scripture are often where misunderstandings arise and where we must navigate the tension between God’s will and the practical realities of daily life.
For example, Christian believers are told not to marry non-believers—but Scripture does not specify whom to marry. Women are told to dress modestly (1 Timothy 2:9-10)—but exact styles are not prescribed. These are guiding principles. Those serious about God and sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading will know whether they are in conformity.
Moses reminds us:
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” – Deuteronomy 29:29
He said this after delivering extensive laws that regulated nearly every aspect of Israel’s life—yet even those laws did not, and could not possibly, address everything—the grey areas where we are given principles rather than specifics. In the grey—where Scripture is silent or not definitive—we must respect individual convictions, so long as they do not violate absolute truth. For this same reason, we must be careful not to condemn others for decisions made in these grey areas. Claiming certainty about what God approves or disapproves in such matters is presumptuous. Paul adds a helpful reminder:
“For we know in part and we prophesy in part.” — 1 Corinthians 13:9
I began with this foundation to prepare the ground for the verses I’ll be exploring in this post. Let’s dive in!
Adultery, Lust, and Jesus’ Standard
Jesus’s second “You have heard…” / “But I say to you…” statements begin in Matthew 5:27–32. Verse 27 is essentially a reminder of the seventh commandment in Exodus 20:14. But just as He did in the first statement from my Part II Verbal Murder: Are Your Words Killing?, Jesus raised the standard when He said:
“…whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” – verse 28
In other words, the sin is not limited to the physical act of adultery; lusting after someone you are not married to is itself sin.
Then, in verse 29, Jesus offered insight into where lust begins—with the eyes. Lust is not simply noticing someone is attractive; it is imagining or fantasizing about sexual acts with that person. After identifying the source, He gives a remedy:
“If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you…”
“And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you…”
Was Jesus telling anyone to literally gouge out their eye or cut off their hand? No. This is hyperbole, meant to emphasize the seriousness of the sin. The danger is clear:
“…it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” – verses 29 & 30
Jesus is declaring that adultery is sin—and lust is as well. As I often say, you must treat anything Jesus says with the utmost seriousness. You put yourself at risk if you don’t.
Modesty and Feminism
Women rightly object to being ogled. Yet many now wear clothing once considered undergarments, or extremely revealing outfits. Suggesting this can contribute to temptation is not unreasonable. In fact, public modesty is expected of Christian women—1 Timothy 2:9–10—and that expectation is not unreasonable.
But many feminists reject it, framing modesty as patriarchal control and, in some cases, doing so because they’ve rejected God’s order and authority.
I’ve highlighted women’s today’s clothing choices, but not to blame them for men lusting after them. Men have been lusting after women long before our time, and they are accountable for the desires of their own hearts. Lust is not one-directional; women also lust after men, and they too are accountable.
However, I believe Christians have a responsibility to avoid provoking temptation, just as Jesus warned that we should not be sources of stumbling—Matthew 18:6–7. If you’re a Christian woman, you honor God when you choose not to dress provocatively.
Divorce and Adultery
Now we come to verse 31, where Jesus addresses divorce. At first glance, it may seem like a separate topic, but it isn’t—because He mentions it in the context of adultery. Jesus is saying that divorce can cause adultery: when a man or woman divorces their spouse for a reason other than sexual immorality and then enters sexual relations with another partner, they commit adultery.
Jesus repeated this teaching in Matthew 19:9, and His disciples were so shocked that they said:
“…If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”
To this, Jesus replied that celibacy is not for everyone — verse 12.
Although divorce is not the main subject of this post, I’ll say a few things because, sadly, it is now common among God’s people. First, notice that Jesus never said—nor does any Scripture say—that divorce itself is sin. It is not. Second, does this mean that believers who divorced for reasons other than sexual immorality and later remarried are living in sin? I don’t know. But I do know that the Apostle Paul, while noting that he was not speaking directly for the Lord, identified another permissible ground for divorce. He taught that a Christian married to an unbeliever may divorce — 1 Corinthians 7:12–16. This applies to situations where both spouses married as unbelievers and one later became a born-again believer.
As I said at the beginning, the world is broken. I do not advocate for divorce—in fact, I believe it is a sad reflection of the human condition—but I also believe no practical person who understands the heart of God would deny that divorce can be a reasonable solution in situations involving physical abuse, threats to life, or irreconcilable differences where the couple can no longer function as a unit.
When Jesus was asked why Moses allowed the Israelites to issue a certificate of divorce for reasons other than sexual immorality, He answered:
“…because of the hardness of your hearts…”
So it may very well be that God, even now, because He understands human frailty, chooses to overlook certain divorces in His mercy. I say this in the same spirit as Paul, who wrote, “...I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.” — 1 Corinthians 7:25. And remember: God deals with the world not as it should be, but as it is. Still, every married couple should strive to remain together. God Himself says:
“For I hate divorce!” because it fractures His intended covenant — Malachi 2:16
In my next post, I will unpack Matthew 5:33–37, the next “You have heard…” / “But I say to you…” combo. God bless, and stay tuned.
To access the previous teachings of this series, please click below: