Matthew 5:29
“Now if your right eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”
I can recall being troubled by this as a young christian. I didn’t think Jesus was being literal. It still bothered me.
I’ve heard interesting stories applied to this. A sighted individual lost his sight. Even though this was true he mentioned that he had plenty of visuals in his memory that tempted him. So, gouging out one’s eyes wouldn’t cure it.
So what is Jesus talking about? He is addressing the gravity of eternity. It far outweighs our time here. It would be better to suffer here to obtain heaven. Even if one were blind, or didn’t have a hand. Fight for heaven even if our quality of life here is limited.
Our culture doesn’t even go there. Present fulfillment here is their god. Sexual pleasure is a great example, but it applies to all areas. To sacrifice for God is brushed off. Immediate gratification is a value from the evil one.
Hebrews 11:24-26 speaks of Moses choices: “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.” This is great. He saw that present pleasure, but chose the greater reward. It’s being connected with God in the present and forever.
That’s a great point. Yes, we are denying some gratification, it’s the pleasure of sin. That’s a negative. We reap evil when we sin. We reap bondage. It’s sweet to the taste, but sour when digested.
The pleasure that God gives is perfect and good. The big prize is to get God. He is good and brings goodness. We don’t have to wait for heaven to get this. When we accept His forgiveness, we get His presence His peace and His power. That’s amazing. We once liked candy corn. It’s like we’re giving up candy corn for steak. Sure we’ve got to wait 25 minutes for the steak to cook, but it’s worth the wait.
Being in Christ is pure, good and right. It’s what we were created for. With Him we become what we’ve were created to be. Walking with Christ is amazing. We become in tune with His Spirit. We are the copilots receiving His instructions. He uses us to bless and share with others. We’ve got His Holy Spirit living in us. He gives us the peace and guidance. Amazing.
Part of the shock of what Jesus says in today’s verse is to protect the message. He doesn’t want the swine. We all don’t like His imagery. We want Him so bad we persist. The swine use His strong words as more reason to reject Him and indulge in sin.
God can still give us tough instructions even as a believer. Do we persist and go deeper in Him or do we hold back. It’s the difference of deeper blessing vs. staying with milk and remaining a babe in Christ.
Lord, thank You for allowing us to persist in going after You. Thank You for the blessings You give. It’s just a fraction of heaven. That’ll be amazing.