Stop Right Now
Matthew 5:29-30 “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.”
I think we all quickly put this into our “memory verse” bank
whether we want to or not because it is so radical. Does Jesus really mean
gouge out the right eye and cut off the right hand? (I’m always interested when
some say they read the Bible literally. Do they have a right hand and right eye?)
In fact, I do read
the Bible literally, and I pray you also do. But sometimes the literal meaning
of the Bible comes in the images of poetry, allegory and memorable illustrations
from everyday life. The illustration for Jesus’ literal message comes from two
things we do automatically: sin and use our right hand. Jesus made people to predominantly use the
right hand first, and the right eye symbolizes the “starting action” of the human’s
right side.
Yes, we begin subconsciously
to reach, to look in ways that cause us to sin. Before we know what’s happened,
we have violated God’s law. We have hurt someone else. And we have hurt
ourselves.
Jesus’ literal
teaching is to say, “Stop right now! Pay attention to what you are doing. Cut
off the tendency to sin. And if you do keep sinning, indeed, it would literally
be better to gouge out your eye and cut off your hand. Removing the cause of
sin would keep you from hell’s horrors—literally.”
LIFE Link: Be right with Jesus.
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