CUT IT OUT!

If your right eye makes you sin, take it out and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell.  If your right hand makes you sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

Matthew 5:29-30

Cathie had only a very small spot on her nose. She had never even noticed it, until her daughter pointed it out saying, “Mom, I think you should go get that checked.”

Cathie did see the doctor, who diagnosed that it was cancer. The doctor started scraping, and scraping, layer after layer until all the cancer was removed. Unfortunately, he had scrapped so much away that additional surgeries had to be performed to allow the area to fully heal.

If Cathie had ignored her caner, it would have eaten, and eaten away, until it got into her blood stream and could have eventually killed her. It was necessary to cut away the cancer so that she could be well.

The Bible tells us that if your eye or hand offends you, you should cut it off. It would be better to have it gone, than to have it cause you to be separated from God. These scriptures were referring specifically of sexual immorality however, it is applicable to all forms of sin. If there is something that causes you to sin, cut it out of your life. It is better to live without that thing than to have it eat away at you, like a deadly cancer.

Sin is similar to cancer. It starts small. It’s an opportunity presented and taken for what one thinks is just one moment of weakness. Remorse may set in immediately after, with a vow made to never make that mistake again. Unfortunately, if the opportunity returns, it may be easier to say yes a second time, then a third, and fourth. A cycle has begun to a point where one cannot figure out a jumping off place. Now instead of us controlling the sin, sin has control of us.

All-encompassing, is exactly what sin will become when left alone. We need to pray, and ask God to steer us away from temptation, but if we do succumb to our temptation, we ask for God’s deliverance before we are in too deep. God provided a way out of our sinfulness even when we are in greater than we ever planned.  God gave us His Son as a sacrifice. 1 John 2:2 says, “And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

With Jesus as the surgeon, we should allow Him to take our seed of sin, and cut it out! It’s the best way for a spiritually healthy life.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, who delivers us from our sin.

Amen