"If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."
Matthew 5:29 NASB1995
This is very similar to yesterday's perspective but 1) More specific 2) More graphic 3) and Straight from Jesus!
We hear a lot these days about "More Jesus!" as if His teachings are soft and cuddly. "Preach more Jesus!" "Get back to Jesus!" Are we just talking about the man, the Savior, or are we talking about His teachings as well? Amen, we need more Jesus! "Self-control" was part of the teaching ministry of Jesus Christ from the very beginning at the Sermon on the Mount.
If it’s better to chop off my hand and go to heaven one-handed* than it is to compromise my self-control and indulge a sinful impulse, desire, passion, and/or lust and my whole body be cast into hell in the judgment; then how bad must hell be?! If it’s better to tear out one eye, or both, and go to heaven blind*, than to lose my self-control and indulge a sinful impulse, desire, passion, and/or lust and my whole body be cast into hell in judgment; then how bad must hell be? How severe must sin be? How important must self-control be?
There is another sermon of Jesus recorded in Mark 9:43-48 where Jesus includes the foot in that one. What a graphic, challenging, and difficult teaching of Jesus. And yet, it’s purposefully so. It’s there to show us the severity of the consequences of sin. He teaches us to make us think twice (or more) about indulging the desires of the heart, mind, and/or flesh. It’s there as an impressionable memorable warning about self-control (or the lack thereof).
If your entertainment causes you to stumble, then unplug it, and cast it out!
If your credit card makes you stumble, cut it up!
If your cellphone makes you stumble, tie a millstone around it and throw it in a lake!
If your internet browser makes you stumble, get www.covenanteyes.com !
If your coworker is relentlessly flirting with your married self, time for a new job!
If your boy/girl friend is pressuring you for sex, then it’s time to ghost that fool!
If your friends are peer-pressuring you to violence or bullying, time for new friends!
And the list could go on and on. But you get the idea. Better to sacrifice a little in self-control and keep your soul than to lose your soul because you were out of control. I know that rhymed a lot. Read it again. It’s important.
Yes, Jesus’ teaching on self-control is strong. Yes, Jesus’ teaching of self-control is challenging. Yes, Jesus’ teaching on self-control is graphic. And it’s also right, and wise, and true, and helpful. Jesus’ teaching on self-control is exactly what we need! A strong, challenging, graphic perspective to help us overcome lust, desire, and temptation with self-control.
*Disclaimer: For illustrative teaching purposes only. I do not believe our eternal heavenly body is the same as how our temporal earthly body perishes. (I Corinthians 15:42-44)
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