If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
I don’t really hate sin enough. That much is clear to me. I think we all know the way sin entangles and traps us. Sin takes away freedom by attaching itself to something intensely personal, maybe even something that is originally good. Beauty for instance… is a God given gift. But when I look at a woman the wrong way, I notice that I lose perspective and miss out on the fact that there’s more than just a pretty face or sexy body in front of me, but this is an individual, with thoughts, dreams, hopes, fears, personality, and other quirks. She’s someone’s friend, daughter, possible mother or wife and I should treat her as such.
I think that if we take the above literally… I’d have alot less body parts right now. So instead of that, I’m thinking that Jesus wants us to have the same view of sin as He does. That sin is something worth sacrificing things in our lives to rid ourselves of them. To hate sin so much, that we’d rather lose an arm or leg than sin. Sin only does one thing… it destroys.
So I hope to keep this idea in my mind of how sin works. Sin is like traps that are baited, but the moment you go for the bait, the trap snaps shut. (Think steel jaw trap.) Imagine if you can, that this trap has clamped over your left leg. Your leg is truly and completely caught by this trap and as you tug, you feel the teeth of the trap ripping up your leg. But here’s the real crux of the matter, if you don’t get free of this trap, you’re going to die. The price of getting free? You guessed it, your leg.
I think this is what Jesus is trying to tell us about holiness and freedom from sin. There may be a cost in blood in this life, but remember the promise of our new life in heaven. Jesus does say we will enter life maimed, but I don’t think the great Healer would leave you like that for eternity….
For those who are beefing up their security, here’s the next one!
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Hi! how are you doing?
sorry it’s taking so long to get back to you.
I’ve been busy and my grams computer is soooo dial-up, hehe.
CHels.:cheekygrin:
Sin is so fun, that’s why it’s so hard to avoid. Blech. It’s hard to be holy in an unholy world, but try, we must!
true true…although sometimes it might just be physically necessary to cut it off hehehe I’m sure a whole lotta people would be missing a whole lotta body parts 😉
Hi there,
Are you in HR major? What kind of career path are you looking for? Forward me your resume to me at serabrh@hotmail.com and I would love to help you finding something. Are you willing to move to DC Metro area? Let me know how I can help.
In Christ, sera 🙂
hook it up!
Yep, sin is creepy, sneaky and can intertwine into the fabric of society so easily. It’s hard..so very hard to pull sin away from the fabric that we live in. Take sin away, and away with it goes stuff that is indeed personal…stuff that I initially think I can’t live without. But you know, once I think of what I’ve been missing…life with Christ in it, those thoughts override my past and give me deep hope, peace and lots of gratitude.
Thanks for helping me to beef up my security forces brother. I’m upgrading to 2.0 software…the stuff that you can’t touch, but you can feel the effects of it…. 🙂
Hey,
Sure send me your friend’s resume and hook me up and I’ll be glad to help out. : )
In Christ, sera 🙂
you are correct. it’s my arm (including my naturally relatively hairless armpit). weird huh?
you and your cryptic comments. 😛 is that your way of “asking me offline?” if so, i must point out that:
1. it’s not a question
2. it’s not offline
if you’re not asking me, then i don’t know what you’re talking about. :confused2: i know you’re an engineer, but you really should use sentences that are more than one word. and i’m not just saying that because i used to be a linguist… :cheekygrin:
hi? daniel’s friend?
‘But when I look at a woman the wrong way, I notice that I lose perspective and miss out on the fact that there’s more than just a pretty face or sexy body in front of me, but this is an individual, with thoughts, dreams, hopes, fears, personality, and other quirks’
well put.
hey hon, great sharing… very well articulated!