Concerning lust...

Sarah and I are currently reading The Sermon on the Mount by Daniel M. Doriani for our Intro to the New Testament I class. We are enjoying this book tremendously and I want to share part of this book with everyone because it is something we all need to know. The following passage is taken from chapter 6 Be Still, O Wandering Eye in the subdivision Lust: The Mind for Adultery:

After Jesus forbids adultery, he warns against lustful eyes, against adultery in the heart. Jesus cautions men about lustful eyes, for men are more oriented to seeing than feeling. But our culture is trying hard to teach women to lust after "eye candy" too, so Jesus' warning applies to them as well.
We must understand what Jesus forbids. it is harmless and natural to notice that a women is beautiful or that a man is handsome. but it is one thing to make an aesthetic observation, another to turn it over to the imagination and entertain immoral fantasies. Likewise, it is good to dress attractively, but not to dress seductively.
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We understand that it is not sinful to be tempted. Temptations assail us all--even Jesus was tempted. Jesus was "tempted in every way, just as we are--yet without sin" (Heb 4:15). So then Jesus faced the temptation to entertain lustful thoughts, but he resisted. He refused to envision or plan or taste sin, even with his mind.
We cannot prevent certain thoughts from entering our minds. But once they enter, we may either entertain them or cast them aside and turn our minds elsewhere. Martin Luther said that we cannot stop birds from flying over our heads, but we can keep them from building nests in our hair. We cannot keep impure thoughts from flitting into our minds, but we can refuse to let them roost and find a home there.

I pray that this was as liberating and as convicting to you as it was to me. Liberating because I understand that I am not alone in this battle and that God has enabled me to 'cast them aside'. Convicting because I understand that I am held accountable for every thought not 'cast aside'.