The Two Handmaidens
"If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." — Matthew 5:29
Why would Jesus say something so extreme?
The rabbis had a saying that the eye and the hand are the two handmaidens of sin. What you see and then what you grab hold of makes sin happen. Jesus understood this better than anyone, and He wasn't being dramatic. He was being honest about how serious the battle really is.
Many of us live passively when it comes to temptation. We let ourselves be exposed to things we know stir up desires that don't honor God. We flirt with fire and then act surprised when we get burned. We justify a little compromise here, a little entertainment there, and before long we're in deeper than we ever intended.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, "Temptation, lust, when fully developed, robs the mind of clear discernment and decision-making." I've watched that truth play out more times than I can count. Successful business leaders whose careers came tumbling down. Athletes whose promising futures were destroyed. Marriages and families shattered because someone refused to cut off what needed to be cut off.
Jesus wasn't telling you to physically harm yourself. He was telling you to be ruthless with whatever gives sin access to your life. Get out of that relationship. Stop going to that website. Put the guardrails in place.
Friend, God loves you too much to let you stay comfortable in compromise. Let Him show you what needs to go, and trust that what He has for you on the other side is worth it.
Why would Jesus say something so extreme?
The rabbis had a saying that the eye and the hand are the two handmaidens of sin. What you see and then what you grab hold of makes sin happen. Jesus understood this better than anyone, and He wasn't being dramatic. He was being honest about how serious the battle really is.
Many of us live passively when it comes to temptation. We let ourselves be exposed to things we know stir up desires that don't honor God. We flirt with fire and then act surprised when we get burned. We justify a little compromise here, a little entertainment there, and before long we're in deeper than we ever intended.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, "Temptation, lust, when fully developed, robs the mind of clear discernment and decision-making." I've watched that truth play out more times than I can count. Successful business leaders whose careers came tumbling down. Athletes whose promising futures were destroyed. Marriages and families shattered because someone refused to cut off what needed to be cut off.
Jesus wasn't telling you to physically harm yourself. He was telling you to be ruthless with whatever gives sin access to your life. Get out of that relationship. Stop going to that website. Put the guardrails in place.
Friend, God loves you too much to let you stay comfortable in compromise. Let Him show you what needs to go, and trust that what He has for you on the other side is worth it.
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