RADICAL SURGERY

Matthew 5:27-30
27 You have heard that it was said, "Do not commit adultery." 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, 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. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, 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.

You'll find one of the most radical sayings in all of Scripture in Matthew 5:27-30. Jesus said, in essence, "If part of your body makes you sin, it's better to cut it off and throw it away than to keep on offending God." He gave two examples: If you keep sinning with your right eye, gouge it out and get rid of it. And if your right hand is the problem, cut it off and dispose of it. That's radical!

We should take Jesus' words to heart--but we shouldn't take them literally. We know this because people without eyes or hands can continue to lust and sin. Acting on our lustful desires is the problem. We must think and behave as if the offending eyes or ears or feet or fingers were gone.

The experience of Aron Ralston is a physical example of this spiritual idea. Aron took a day-hike into the rugged wilderness near Canyonlands National Park in Utah. As he was clambering over a huge boulder, it shifted and trapped his right arm against the sheer face of a cliff. Try as he might, he could not get his arm free.

After 5 days, his situation was desperate. Searching friends had not found him. He was out of food and water. It was time for radical action! First he applied a tourniquet. Then he broke the two bones in his arm above the wrist. Using the blade of a utility tool, he cut through the flesh until his arm was free. Then he trekked 6 miles down the canyon which included rappelling a 60-foot cliff. Finally, he came across some people who helped him.

To cut that arm off, Aron had to see it as useless and dead--as threatening his life. He had to see it as gone. That's how Jesus told us to look at the parts of our bodies we sin with--as if they were dead; as if they no longer had any power; as if they had been cut off and thrown away.

It may seem as if you could not live without that pleasure, that sin, that addiction. That's part of sin's power. The way to overcome it is to view it as threatening your life. Then, in your mind, and with the help of Jesus, "Cut it off and throw it away." Radical surgery is required to be free from sin. --Dave Egner

DESTINATION POINTS

* With which part of my body do I sin the most? Mouth? Eyes? Hands?
* Jesus did not mean for us to mutilate ourselves. What did He mean?
* With whom can I comfortably talk about my particular struggles?

LINKS:
Hiker Aron Ralston Cuts Off Own Arm to Survive
http://hike.mountainzone.com/2003/news/html/030502_amputate-arm.html

bottom line: Sin requires a radical approach.

soul journey