Do I realize the seriousness of sin, and am I doing whatever it takes to get it out of my life?

8 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. 9 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.

INSIGHT:   In the very early days of my ministry, I primarily helped hurting people I met at Starbucks, by sharing my story.  Over several months I had brief interactions with a single Christian woman who was very successful in business.  She looked all put together on the outside, but I could sense her injured soul.  I felt compassion for her and wanted to help.  I was intrigued because she was so gentle and kind, but also very aloof.  A door finally opened for me to befriend her.  She was attractive but because of the enormous emotional distance she kept, and because I already had hope for Laura, I felt very safe trying to help her as a friend.  God warned me with a huge John 10:10 warning on my way to her home, but I said, “I know, I’ve got this Lord.” PRIDE came first, and then would come the fall!  Like an un-expecting fly meandering around the edge of a Venus fly trap, suddenly when the moment was right, she attacked me like a scene from a movie.  It was late and there had been a glass of wine, but I fought back with words and gentle pushing, telling her “no” dozens of times, and even asking her what our pastor, who she did business with, would say about this, but all to no avail.  She was relentless and she had power over me because of my insecurity.  She was a millionaire, and I was now dead broke living with my parents.  In that moment I cared more about what she would think about me, if I jumped up and ran, than I did about hurting God’s feelings if I sinned against Him.   Days later, I went back to her house hoping to regain my spiritual dignity and repair my Christian witness to her, and it happened again!  She kept saying, “I knew you were different from the moment I met you”, and she was convinced God had put us together to be married.  I tried so hard not to crush the relationship because I wanted to see her right with God, but then one evening she caught me off guard at a Starbucks and invited me for just a friendly visit to come see a new building she had just purchased in downtown.  After minutes of being in her office, she came after me again.  This time, I finally ran!  God got me indignant enough about the sin, that I no longer cared what she thought of me.

When it first happened, I cried on and off for three days begging God to forgive me.  He forgave me immediately, but weeks later I was still not forgiving myself.  Some wondered why I didn’t just continue in a relationship and even she told me that I had no idea what I was walking away from.  She told me we could have a wonderful Christian marriage, and I could work in my ministry without ever having to worry about money.  But I knew she had a very different faith and Christianity than mine.  She continued to pursue me, and sometimes the temptation to give in was enormous, so against my compassionate side, I finally blocked all communication and completely shut her out of my life with very stern messages.  I was so hurt by my sin against God, that I was willing to take drastic measures to keep it, and her, out of my life.  This is what Jesus is telling us to do in this teaching.  He is not teaching self-mutilation, because just like it says in my NIV Study Bible, even a blind man is still capable of lusting in his heart.  He is using hyperbole to show us the urgency of getting sin out of our life.  The first message Jesus preached is “repent” or turn from your sin (Mk 1:15).  He did not say, “just believe in me and continue in sin if you can’t stop.”  We may still on occasion, stumble into a temptation, but if we are true Spirit-filled Christians, we will not be able to continue in our sin (1 Jn 3:9).  It will be too painful, and if we continue to walk in sin, we cannot expect to go to heaven (Rom 8:13). 

Just like Peter’s denial of Christ three times, once was not enough for me.  God allowed me to fall into this situation with her three times, to totally break my self-confidence and make me strong in the very place I was weak, and where Satan was able to exploit.