In this, the inaction is a sin. It is laziness and apathy. And, there is the ever-present sin of pride. For in our inaction to repent and cast out these desirous thoughts, we coddle them and fan the flames of their fire. By not caring about the seriousness of these sinful thoughts, we show apathy to God's love. For His will over us is both the soul and the guardians of the soul - which is the mind, the heart and the body. So if the desire lingers within you, then 2/3s of your soul's guardians are involved - the heart and the mind. Excluding the body does not mean it is not a sin. "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."(a)

Do not let your personal pride blind you to the existence of these sins. Cast them out with the rest of the garbage and say to them they have no place in my home with God. For these lingering desires cause your eyes to find more fuel for these desires. Thus your mind and heart become slaves to the eye's desires. And then there is no focus on God.

It was once commented that the iconic art style of Orthodox icons are flat and lifeless. But the is ramblings of the unknowing, for an icon is not painted - it is written. We do not draw icons, we write the subjects story. And so the viewer is pointed to Christ and how Christ gave them the strength to overcome the Devil. The icon is not drawn to create desire for its subject. No, and icon is written dispassionately to portray the presence of Christ within the story on the Icon. To create icons that invoke a desire would idolatry. So when you gaze upon them, the point you Christward through the story they tell.

Once you have firmly reeled in the wandering eye, beware of the ears. For the remaining desire will use the next most powerful sense to justify the need for the desire. For in retaining the sin within you, the ears will help find support for the existence of this desire. If lust remains in your heart, the ear will seek out songs, movies and gossip to support and justify this sinful shadow in ourselves. If it is anger, rage and hatred we harbor internally, the ears will help you gather juicy gossip and lies to fuel your hidden demon. For it is through the ears that untruths travel to our mind and echo through our hearts. If sound doctrine is not within us, then the halls of our body will resonant these lies. St. Paul said to Timothy, "And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables."(b) If you are listening to untruths frequently, then of course you will begin to manifest them as truths within yourself. Guard your ears and turn away from ill-speak, be it gossip, complaints on others, or any language, music or other that draws you away from Christ-like virtues.

And do not fool yourself that hearing is not as sinful as saying. For a peddler of trinkets will have no business if no one buys from him. A spinner of lies will be mute without a captive audience. If you listen then you give value to the liar and is wares. The great founding father Saint Basil considers those who listen as guilty as those who spin the webs of deceit. And to, the devil, being an angel, can too see the desire you hide within you. And so he will whisper words into the weak. And these words will come to your ears and will speak directly to the sinful thoughts you hide within you. As an example, say you secretly are jealous of someone. Outwardly you great them nicely and friendly, and you never speak ill of them. But secretly you judge them, think them as weaker or inferior to yourself. This unconfessed sin screams at the devil, for the devil knows his own.. So the devil will finds ways to whisper ill-words about this one who are jealous of. And your ear will perk up, and your heart will cross its arms and say "I told you so." Take care of this guardian of your soul.

Now, as the eyes are paired, and the ears are paired, you can see why they are the most influential of your senses. But do not discredit the influence the sense of smell can have. For in a moment, the waft of a fragrant smell can pull you from the focus of God. Even the heavenly smells can draw you away from the right focus. As an example, the Bread used for the body of Christ comes into the church. And the smell of bread fills the air. You are fasting from the night before and are hungry. Rather than focusing on prayer, on Christ, on the opportunity to you to cleanse yourself before God, you mind is wrapped around the alluring smell of warm bread. Natural, yes of course. Innocent? No. For if you are unable to control the weakest of your senses, how can you ever hope to control the far more powerful eyes and ears?

The mouth is the doorway to your stomach. Let us speak about this abyss. This never full, ever wanting, unyielding abyss. It is both necessary to feed it, but unnecessary to serve it. In other words, never let your stomach speak for the will of the mind and heart. It will grumble, but it will always grumble. In fasting, it shrinks (not without complaint at first), but its wants and needs are never fulfilled. Here in you can tie in all the sense together to tame this ever famished beast. The eyes will seek out substance. The substance need not be desirous, only sustaining. The ears will hear the stomach's grumbling, and will agree that it needs to be feed - but not served. The nose need not agree, but if the nose smells something sweet the stomach yearns for it - even if what it smells is not edible. See what a dumb beast it really is. There are fragrant chemicals used in cleaning that are harmful to swallow. But the stomach only knows that the nose has founding something pleasing and it wants some. Food need not be bland of taste, but it also sound not have any power over you. The stomach really does not care if the food it is ingesting has great flavor or not. It is the taste buds that determine this. But the stomach just wants to be filled. Fasting is not just not eating, but eating without desire.

So the mouth is a guardian that is preoccupied with the stomach. But is also the very source of our praise to God. I do not speak of prayer, songs and liturgical phrases - I mean what you say, that is, what comes out of your mouth, tells those around you how much of Christ have you ingested. If some one speaks ill of you and you return with a smile, a thank you, and no complaint. Then truly the body of Christ has filled your belly fully. But if you respond with challenges, ill-words in return, or some other slander - then Christ is lacking in your life.

Lastly, the sense of touch. If the nose has only one window, the eyes two and the ears two, how many would say has the sense of touch? Here, my dearest beloved, you are sadly outnumbered. For the sense of touch has, at its disposal, your entire body. There are parts more sensitive than others true, but the devil will use the most unguarded areas to catch your mind off guard. Be on guard with your body, that it neither be a stumbling block for you or for others.

These points, my fellow struggler, are merely to point out how the mightiest hurricane starts with but a simple breeze. The small will topple the big. "The devil resembles an ant-lion since he always begins a man's ruin by first casting him into small sins, just as an ant is small, and then, when the man becomes accustomed to such small sins, he casts him into greater. So equally the devil at first seems as weak and small as an ant, and later he appears like a powerful giant - a great lion.

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(a) Matthew 5:28
(b) 2 Timothy 4:4