Bible in a Year - Women’s Thematic Reading Plan | Day 141

Day 141 of the Women’s Bible Plan: Read Matthew 5:27-32 and reflect on Jesus’ teaching about adultery, inward desire, marital faithfulness, and divorce in the Sermon on the Mount. Today’s theme, “Do Not Commit Adultery and Purity of Heart,” invites us to see that God cares not only about outward actions, but also about the heart. This page includes Matthew 5:27-32 Scripture, a devotional guide on marriage and relationships, reflection questions, a daily verse, prayer, and a life response.

🌸  Dear Sister, welcome to Day 141 of our reading journey. 

When we talk about marriage, faithfulness, desire, and purity, it is easy to focus only on outward behavior: Have I crossed a line? Have I done something wrong? Has anyone found out? But in Matthew Chapter 5, Jesus brings us much deeper. He does not only ask whether we have committed an obvious sin; He shines His light upon our eyes, desires, motives, thoughts, and choices.

This passage is not meant to trap us in shame or despair. Instead, it calls us back to God’s original design for marriage, love, and holiness. The purity God desires is not merely a clean outward appearance, but a heart learning truthfulness, faithfulness, reverence, and self-control. Jesus is not only concerned that rules be kept; He cares that our hearts not be ruled by sin, that relationships not be distorted by lust, that marriage not be treated lightly, and that vulnerable people not be harmed.

In today’s passage, Jesus calls us to pursue purity from the heart. This is not a moral performance we can force by willpower alone. It is allowing God’s light to enter our eyes, thoughts, emotions, relationships, and choices—so that we may learn faithfulness in marriage, purity in singleness, and reverence toward God in every relationship.

A Minute of Grace

Matthew 5:27-32 is an important part of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus quotes the commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” but He goes further by saying that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. Jesus moves our attention from outward behavior to the hidden places of the heart. Sin often does not begin only at the moment of action; it begins as the eyes, thoughts, desires, and inner permissions slowly turn away from God.

Then Jesus uses very strong language: if the right eye causes one to offend, pluck it out and cast it away; if the right hand causes one to offend, cut it off and cast it away. He is not calling people to harm their bodies, but using a serious image to show that sin must not be treated lightly. We cannot say we desire purity while continuing to preserve safe spaces for temptation. A heart that pursues holiness must be willing to cut off the entrances, habits, patterns, and relationships that repeatedly lead it toward sin.

This passage also addresses divorce. In Jesus’ day, some used legal documents of divorce in ways that harmed and abandoned their spouses, treating marriage as something that could be easily discarded. Jesus’ teaching is not meant to oppress people in painful or unsafe situations, but to restore the seriousness of marriage, call people to faithfulness, and protect those who were vulnerable to rejection and harm.

From the perspective of “Marriage and Husband-Wife Relationships,” this passage reminds us that marital faithfulness is not only physical faithfulness. It also includes the faithfulness of the eyes, thoughts, affections, and will. Marriage is not sustained only by outward duty; it also requires an inward, repeated choice to honor, cherish, tell the truth, and remain pure. For single sisters, this passage is also precious, because purity does not belong only to married people. Every person who belongs to God is called to love, see, and treat others with a clean heart.

Today’s theme, “Do Not Commit Adultery and Purity of Heart,” invites us to ask: Is my heart willing to be searched by the Lord? Am I satisfied merely because I have not crossed an obvious boundary, while ignoring hidden fantasies, comparisons, emotional entanglements, secret desires, or unhealthy attachments? Jesus calls us to pursue purity from the heart because He wants to give us more than the feeling of “not having done anything wrong.” He wants to give us deeper freedom, honesty, and love.

Whispers for the Heart

1 Jesus says that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. How do you understand “purity of heart” as something that includes not only outward boundaries, but also the direction of our eyes, thoughts, emotions, and desires? In your daily life, what content, habits, or relationships may need the Lord’s light?

2 Jesus uses strong imagery to teach us to deal seriously with whatever causes us to stumble. Are there entrances in your life that you know weaken you, but you have not truly cut off? It may be certain media content, emotional ambiguity, hidden comparison, unhealthy dependence, fantasies, or habits that draw you away from God.

3 This passage also reminds us that marriage is not a relationship to be treated lightly. Whether you are married, single, waiting, wounded from the past, or learning to rebuild trust, is God inviting you to view intimate relationships with greater reverence, honesty, purity, and faithfulness?

As you read Matthew 5:27-32 today, do not use this passage only to judge others. Let the Lord gently and truthfully shine His light upon your own heart. He exposes sin not to shame us, but to heal us. He calls us to holiness not to crush us, but to set us free.

Take a quiet breath before you begin. Bring your eyes, thoughts, desires, relationships, and view of marriage before the Lord, and let His Word meet you there.

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🪕 Response Hymn: 

Matthew 5:27-32 (KJV)

27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:

32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

🪕 Response Hymn: 

💡 Closing Thought · Pursuing Purity from the Heart

After reading Matthew 5:27-32, we see that Jesus does not only want people to keep outward boundaries. He calls us to bring the heart before God. He knows that sin often takes root first in the eyes and thoughts, and that relationships often begin to break when reverence, faithfulness, and purity are no longer guarded within. The teaching of Jesus is serious, but it is also loving, because He wants to protect us from bondage to sin and protect relationships from being damaged by selfish desire.

As we close this page and return to real life, perhaps today you need to reorder the content on your phone, rebuild boundaries in a relationship, express faithfulness and appreciation to your spouse, or bring a long-hidden struggle before God. Remember this: holiness is not pretending that you have no weakness. Holiness is being willing to come to the Lord in your weakness and be searched, cleansed, lifted up, and renewed by Him.

May today’s Scripture remind you that God is not looking for surface-level perfection, but for a heart willing to return to Him. May you learn to fear God in your eyes, thoughts, emotions, and relationships, live with faithfulness, respect, and purity in marriage and intimate relationships, and receive deeper freedom through the grace of Christ.

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