Words from the Rock
If your hand or your foot gets in the way of God, chop it off and throw it away. You’re better off maimed or lame and alive than the proud owners of two hands and two feet, godless in a furnace of eternal fire. And if your eye distracts you from God, pull it out and throw it away. You’re better off one-eyed and alive than exercising your twenty-twenty vision from inside the fire of hell.
Matthew 18:8–9 Message
Jesus’s warning about sin feels very extreme here. In fact, these words are commonly misunderstood and questioned. Is Jesus really telling you to cut off your hand or your foot? Does he really want you to gouge out your eye? If Jesus loves you the way you thought he did, why would he want to make you suffer like that?
Jesus is trying to make a point, and he wants to get our attention. Discussing the possibility of chopping off body parts tends to make a person sit up and listen. But suppose that your foot really did have a mind of its own, and it decided it was a good idea to go around kicking people. And suppose it got really good at kicking people and started breaking old people’s bones or knocking small children in front of buses. (Sounds kind of like a Stephen King novel.) Just suppose that really happened and you had absolutely no control over this evil foot that could take out another person. Seriously, wouldn’t it be better to have that foot amputated than to let it drag you first to prison, then to death row, and eventually to hell?
Jesus is saying that if something in your life is going to drag you into sin, get rid of it. In the long run, you’ll be glad you did. Hopefully it’s not a body part, but maybe it’s something on the Internet that’s messing with your mind, maybe it’s a car you drive too fast, or maybe a boyfriend who pushes you too far. Just lose whatever it is, and in the end you will save yourself.
My Prayer
Dear God,
Please help me to see if there’s anything in my life that entices me to sin. Then give me the self-discipline to get rid of it.
Amen.
Final Word
Obey my laws and live by my decrees. I am your GOD. Keep my decrees and laws: The person who obeys them lives by them. I am GOD.
Leviticus 18:4–5 Message
Stone for the Journey
I will not allow sin to take root in my life.