John said, "Let me ask another." Ask what you will," replied Jesus. "Adultery - what causes it and what makes it recur?" "A glance," said Jesus, "which implants in the heart something that makes it veer excessively toward amusement and self-indulgence, thus increasing heedlessness and sin. Do not stare at what does not belong to you, for what you have not seen will not make you wiser and what you do not hear will not trouble you." (al-Zuhd, Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak)

Jimmy Carter famously told an interviewer, "Christ said, I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman with lust has in his heart already committed adultery. I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times."

What is less often remembered is the context in which the then Presidential candidate made this remark. Mr. Carter went on to say, "This is something that God recognizes, that I will do and have done, and God forgives me for it. But that doesn't mean that I condemn someone who not only looks on a woman with lust but who leaves his wife and shacks up with somebody out of wedlock. Christ says, don't consider yourself better than someone else because one guy screws a whole bunch of women while the other guy is loyal to his wife. The guy who's loyal to his wife ought not to be condescending or proud because of the relative degree of sinfulness."

We will glance, but we need not stare at what does not belong to us. More important is the opportunity even such a glance provides for honest self-reflection, self-correction, and giving thanks for the grace of God.