Putting it Behind

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

PUTTING IT BEHIND

Matt 18:7-9

7 "Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! 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.

NIV

Jesus is blaming the things of the world that cause us to sin. Whatever these things are, they are with us or rather all around us for Jesus said they must come. We can attest to what Jesus said is true. The world offers many temptations for us to feast upon. In fact, we are constantly bombarded with all sorts of ways to sin, and when we think of sin, we do not have to limit it to those areas like murder, stealing, adultery, or some other bad behavior. What could our hand do that would cause us to sin? What could our feet do to cause us to sin? We know what our eyes could do, that is not a problem to figure out that simply looking at something can cause major problems within us. Desire, lust, greed, envy, jealousy, are just a few areas of sin our eyes could cause. Jesus is not advocating that we mutilate ourselves to keep us from sinning. But our feet could take us to places we should not go, and we could touch things that we should not. However, all this may be metaphorical in the sense that we need to be watchful of what we desire. It is not so much our outer being, or body parts that cause us to sin, as it is our inner being, the true self. Sure, it may help or hinder our inner self by where we go, what we look at, and what we touch, but it is still our self that is at fault for yielding to the things of the world which cause us to sin. The other problem is that we are still in this perishable, mortal body that is corruptible, and to say that we have no sin would be calling God a liar, for we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and to say that when we became a Christian we became free of all sin, that we stopped sinning and we are as pure as God, we simply deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Still, we should not go about lurking in the world to see how much sin we can conjure up with our feet, hands, and eyes. But there should be a lot of self-examination and we should attempt to restrain ourselves rather than give in to our impulses. Even those thoughts, or feelings, or having an attitude of being judgmental, or critical can be damaging to self. Bitterness and unforgiveness, that can lead to hatred are dangerous. Jesus enumerated many areas of sin for us throughout his teaching. Then we have to consider the context and that Jesus is telling us this right after he said that if anyone causes one of those little ones to sin, it would be better to have a millstone around our neck and be thrown into the deep. Again, it may not be about little children as small humans, but about those who have changed their thinking and become like little children. Although we may well be the cause of our own sin, we should be extremely careful, to the point of avoiding altogether anything that would cause someone with that child-like faith to sin. This could be a real tightrope walk if we are trying to live rightly, but always living too close to the things of the world. It is the self that wants what it wants and when it wants it, and that is why Jesus said that we must deny that self and pick up our cross and follow him. However, as John also said that if we do sin we have an advocate in Jesus who is ever interceding for us before the Father. But, again, let us not go looking for ways to sin, but rather be aware of what it is that causes us to sin, and make every effort to put it behind us, so we cannot see it, walk toward it and pick it up.