March 16
“And if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to go into hell..” (Matthew 5:29-30)
These are pretty extreme words that our Lord had to say about things that make us stumble, even our own body parts. The context of these verses is Jesus telling us that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. He then proceeds to tell us that it is better for us to lose body parts than to be made to stumble and go into hell.
The clear message of Jesus’ teaching is that the removal from our lives of things that make us stumble should have tantamount importance to us. There should be no cost too great to pay to get sin out of our lives.
But I know very few people that have this urgency to eliminate sin from their lives. I include myself in this group. We think, “I can handle this,” or “I can resist that.” But when sin is nearby, it grows on us, and we become comfortable with its presence. It will make us think that we are in control, that we are stronger than it is. I think Satan delights when we think of sin in that way, because he knows it is just a matter of time when he will have us in his grip. Sooner or later, we in our arrogance and lack of urgency to purge our lives of any and every potential stumbling block will fall to them.
Obviously, things like pornography or having inappropriate interactions with persons outside of marriage is unacceptable and should be urgently and immediately avoided, at all costs, but what about seemingly less serious things? What about movies that you watch? What about articles or books that you read? What about the people you associate with? What about language you tolerate in yourself and others?
It is so easy to lower our standards and accept a low standard, in part because oftentimes exciting and interesting movies and entertainment are the ones that contain inappropriate content that can set our minds on the things of the flesh. So we have to have a lower standard to accommodate our desire to be entertained. And when others come along who have a higher standard, in order to ease our consciences we try to persuade them that their standards are too high!
This extreme teaching of our Lord, as difficult as it is to accept, must set the standard for our attitude and action toward potential stumbling blocks: Immediate and decisive action is required to eliminate from our lives things that cause us to sin, things we know in our heart of hearts are bad for us and things we know we would never do if the Lord were here with us in person. Take no prisoners, leave nothing “alive” that has any potential to make you stumble. Cut if off, get rid of it, and ensure that it cannot return.
Approach the problem of sin and stumbling blocks as if it is a life or death situation, as if our eternal destiny depends on it, because it very well may be a life or death situation for us or for someone who may be made to stumble by our carelessness. God takes sin very, very seriously, and if we don’t likewise have a very high standard and remove all things from our lives that make us stumble, we are destined to learn the hard lessons and fall into evil.