Gospel

The Eye And the Hand

by Roland Crim
01/13/18
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“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. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Matthew 5:29-30 NIV

What is Christ saying to us here? To gouge out an eye or cut off a hand is a pretty severe action. The eye or hand may carry out a sinful action, yet we must remember that the origination of the carrying out of a sin is from the desire of the will. For one to avoid the fires of hell, we must get at the root of sin, dealing with it. The will carries out that which comes from the heart. If the heart is evil, it will lead one to sin. How is this overcome? The only way to deal with sin is through repentance and approaching Jesus Christ for cleansing and giving us a new heart. This requires the acceptance of a new life to replace the old. We are asking to be cleansed from slavery to sin. This requires a heart committed to Jesus Christ. Cutting off our hand or gauging out our eye can be equated to giving up the old life to receive the new life, a life belonging to Jesus Christ.

Do not let your old life, a life enslaved to sin, control you. Relinquish it. Abide in Christ.