"Cut if off!"- Say What???

CUT IT OFF!!!


Have you ever read or heard of the story in the Book of Matthew 18 where Jesus is speaking to His disciples and tells them, "So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away." ?

Whoa! What does that mean? Was Jesus being literal? Some may have thought so.

At one point, as recorded in the Book of John, Jesus says that it is necessary to eat His flesh and drink His blood!

This was a hard saying that caused many to turn back from following Him.

But what else does Jesus say about cutting something off?

Matthew 18:7-9

"What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting.

So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, CUT IT OFF AND THROW IT AWAY.

It is better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both of your hands and feet.

And if your eye causes you to sin, GOUGE IT OUT AND THROW IT AWAY. It's better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell."

(NLT, Caps for emphasis)


WHOA! Sounds kind of harsh? But was Jesus being literal?

Now before you get any ideas and start doing something you shouldn't take some time to understand something.

God hates sin!

God loves people.

It is not His intent that we start chopping off body parts and gouging out eyeballs.

But take a moment and think about what Jesus is saying.

If I used my hand to do something against what God intended, thus disobeying God, aka sinning against God, and my hand was cut off, could I use that hand to do that same action again?

No! I wouldn't have a hand to do so.

In the same way, if a man lusted after a woman with his eyes and thought, "Man, she's hott. I just have to have her." In the same way, if he lost his eyes and couldn't see anymore, he wouldn't be able to look at a woman and do what he just did.


When Jesus says to "CUT IT OFF", He's calling everyone to repent, to turn away from their disobedience toward God and do what is right. And to do so with a sincere heart change so that it is like as if your hand, foot, eye, whatever, was literally gone! If it's gone, it makes it harder for you to fall back into that particular sin.

So, yes, cut it off and gouge it out. But not literally. Jesus is speaking spiritually. A heart change.

Otherwise, we'd be mute, blind, and have many missing body parts.

"For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard." Romans 3:23 NLT

"If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness." 1 John 1:8-9 NLT

"Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live." Ezekiel 18:23 NLT