“If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.”

The fact of the matter is, I want both hands, both feet, and both eyes. If I am having problems with anyone of those body parts, my tendency is to look outwards. “If only so-and-so wouldn’t dress so provocatively, I wouldn’t be having this problem with my eyes” is the sort of logic my ego espouses. I am reminded, when I reflect on these verses, of the incredible priority God puts on not separating ourselves from Him. We are to avoid sin at all costs, no matter how radical. It is a lot more appealing to try to control others and the world around us than it is
to make genuine sacrifice or change ourselves. What could be scarier than to willingly go into life maimed, crippled, or blind? And yet that is where our emphasis should be. Our walk with God has nothing to do with controlling outward circumstances; it’s about our willingness to
venture into the unknown.

AMEN.

-Shared by Scott Dickson