Eyes on the Prize | Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff

There was a gentleman who won the lottery of a lifetime, an incredible sweepstake. He was told that he can take one hour, 60 minutes, and go to this high-end department store and load up with all the jewelry, electronics, La-Z-Boy chairs, whatever he wants is going to be his. He has a full 60 minutes to load up his pallet. He's planning exactly how he's going to navigate, which areas have the high-end currency and goods and designer fashion clothing, and he's ready to go. The bell goes off. And as he's about to grab the first piece of jewelry, he smells hot pretzels and popcorn. Well, he's got 60 minutes, plenty of time. He sits down, makes a Bracha, eats the pretzels, the popcorn, makes a ברכה אחרונה. 55 minutes left on the clock. He keeps on moving. There's a symphony, enchanting music, Carmina Burana, fantastic music, Beethoven's Ninth, Ode to Joy. He sits down on a La-Z-Boy chair for a couple of minutes to soak in the music. And so it continues. Every time he’s about to put something in his pallet, in his cart, some other Yetzer Hara shows up. And before you know it, by the time the hour is over, he has nothing to show for his winnings. We come to this world with so much to amass, so many Mitzvos, the ability to abstain from Aveiros, but the Yetzer Hara waylays us. At every corner, another sight, something else immoral, Pritzus, improper. We have to realize that we have to keep our eye on the prize. Don't allow the Yetzer Hara to take us away from all that we're going to amass. When a person doesn't look, when a person doesn't give in to the Yetzer Hara, he receives reward beyond anything we can fathom in this world. Don't allow yourself to be seduced. Don't look, turn away. Control your vision, your impulse. Realize it's the Yetzer Hara that's trying to seduce you and take away the incredible prize that we call Life. In the zechus of strengthening ourselves, in the zechus of remaining an עבד השם בקדושה ובטהרה, we’ll be zoche to דביקות בהשם, an incredible reward לעתיד לבוא in Olam Haba, we’ll be zoche to create ריבוי כבוד שמיים.