"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."
Matthew 5:29-30
I think we misunderstand these verses a lot. We read them and we're like... Err, I'm not chopping off body parts. That's too extreme. And it is pretty extreme. :) However, like a lot of things in the scriptures, this instruction from God is symbolic. He doesn't want us to go in and cut off a hand, because obviously the problem is *never* the hand, or the eye, or any of the rest of it. It is the brain, the personality, and the choices that we make.
In the verses before this God goes through some guidelines. He says that let's not just stop at killing. Let's dial it back and not be angry. He says that if we want to give a gift to God, we should stop and make sure we don't have unresolved issues with other people... then we can give our gift, and that *is* a good gift. He says we need to negotiate and find common ground, and some way to agree with people. He says let's not stop just short of adultery, but dial it back and stop ourselves before we allow ourselves to lust.
All of these things leading up to these verses are talking about relationships with people, and regulating our thoughts and emotions so that we can have good relationships... that those things come *before* these worse actions, and that we need to watch ourselves early, so that we don't get to the point where we are so undisciplined and unbalanced that we commit serious sin. Then, these verses.
I think what God is actually doing here is anticipating our objections to what he has just said. We're ready to jump in with some justification or whining about how we can't control ourselves, or we're just this way, or how society or someone else or genetics *caused* us to feel or think or act this way, and asking us to stop is just too hard. ... So before we actually go there, he lays it out. Listen, even if you have to cut off parts of yourself, it is *still* that important.
And sometimes we feel that way. Giving up our rage or our lust, or our anger, or refusing to resolve something with another person... sometimes those things are so important to us that giving them up feels like poking out an eye. Even so, God asks us to make that sacrifice, and obey him anyway. Why? Because our lives will be better without those obsessions... without things that get in the way of our relationship with God. Because we will be happier, and he knows it, and so would we, if we could let go and get out of those mental traps.
Today, let's chop off, not our hands, but our stubbornness. Let's listen to God and put him first... before every single thing. Even that one. :) Let's work on our relationships and stop letting our anger and lust and other emotions get in the way of our relationship with God. Let's avoid hell through self-governance rather than self-mutilation. I'm sure that is the method that God would prefer. :)
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."
Matthew 5:29-30
I think we misunderstand these verses a lot. We read them and we're like... Err, I'm not chopping off body parts. That's too extreme. And it is pretty extreme. :) However, like a lot of things in the scriptures, this instruction from God is symbolic. He doesn't want us to go in and cut off a hand, because obviously the problem is *never* the hand, or the eye, or any of the rest of it. It is the brain, the personality, and the choices that we make.
In the verses before this God goes through some guidelines. He says that let's not just stop at killing. Let's dial it back and not be angry. He says that if we want to give a gift to God, we should stop and make sure we don't have unresolved issues with other people... then we can give our gift, and that *is* a good gift. He says we need to negotiate and find common ground, and some way to agree with people. He says let's not stop just short of adultery, but dial it back and stop ourselves before we allow ourselves to lust.
All of these things leading up to these verses are talking about relationships with people, and regulating our thoughts and emotions so that we can have good relationships... that those things come *before* these worse actions, and that we need to watch ourselves early, so that we don't get to the point where we are so undisciplined and unbalanced that we commit serious sin. Then, these verses.
I think what God is actually doing here is anticipating our objections to what he has just said. We're ready to jump in with some justification or whining about how we can't control ourselves, or we're just this way, or how society or someone else or genetics *caused* us to feel or think or act this way, and asking us to stop is just too hard. ... So before we actually go there, he lays it out. Listen, even if you have to cut off parts of yourself, it is *still* that important.
And sometimes we feel that way. Giving up our rage or our lust, or our anger, or refusing to resolve something with another person... sometimes those things are so important to us that giving them up feels like poking out an eye. Even so, God asks us to make that sacrifice, and obey him anyway. Why? Because our lives will be better without those obsessions... without things that get in the way of our relationship with God. Because we will be happier, and he knows it, and so would we, if we could let go and get out of those mental traps.
Today, let's chop off, not our hands, but our stubbornness. Let's listen to God and put him first... before every single thing. Even that one. :) Let's work on our relationships and stop letting our anger and lust and other emotions get in the way of our relationship with God. Let's avoid hell through self-governance rather than self-mutilation. I'm sure that is the method that God would prefer. :)
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