Sometimes it's the little things that can slip you up. You know the little things that seem innocent at first, but end up being a big deal. Those words you said to someone that didn't seem bad have now come back to haunt you. That glance at a website that seemed like not a big deal at first, blows up into an addiction. Or that credit card you used for just a small purchase begins to be abused, then becomes debt you can't pay off. You see it's the little things that slip you up.
It's the little decisions, compromises, white lies, that usually don't start out as a big issue; but snowballs into your marriage, career, or life being destroyed. Jesus is saying the issue is not an external one it's an internal one. Jesus was talking about what goes on in the heart, because the intent for adultery or any other sin begins in the heart and imagination. He's saying don't even let yourself desire it; stop it before it starts. He wants us to guard our hearts. 'Cause to sin' literally means 'stumbling block.' So if your eye begins to sin, stop it, or cut it out. Begin to recognize the stumbling blocks and cut them out before the temptation arises.
Being a disciple requires sacrifice, and because sin is heavy stuff, you have to get radical. You don’t literally have to cut your eyes out, but if you really want to be free from lust, you have to be radical about protecting your eyes. If you really want to be free from lying or drinking or any thing else, you have to be radical about not putting yourself in situations that cause you to stumble. Christ says, cut yourself off from that temptation. But the hardest part of this saying is not figuring it out, it's living it out. Most people just can’t bring themselves to make the sacrifice and ultimately they suffer the consequences. They end up with broken relationships, broken careers, broken reputations. Christ says that if we want to be free and if we want to be a true disciple then we have to cut sin off at its source.
Jesus's point here is simple; it's better to sacrifice a little now, than to lose everything later. That challenge leaves us with a very simple question to consider: What are the stumbling blocks in our lives that need to be cut out? Maybe for you the stumbling block really is with your eyes and involves what you look at. Christ says its better to sacrifice a little now than suffer the consequences on your marriage later. Maybe it's substance abuse or overspending, it's better to sacrifice a little now than ruining your marriage, your children, and your life.
Christ said get radical and I think He used a radical image for a reason. If we don’t cut it at its source, we will reap the consequences later. Christ is right there with you wanting to see you through this, but you may need to sacrifice. Maybe you’re in a good place and you’ve made the sacrifices already and if so, great! But maybe you’re not in a good place right now. And maybe you’ve made some decisions you aren’t proud of or maybe your trapped in some things you can’t get free from. Maybe you’ve found yourself at a point in your life where you don’t like who you’ve become. I want to encourage you to take this time to wrestle with Christ’s words and to consider what it means to make Him the center of your life.
I want to encourage you to think about one thing you can do this week to start making that change and making Christ the center of your life – and don’t just think about it, if you have to take a minute and write it down somewhere you can constantly see it. The one thing I will begin to do or stop doing so that I can make Christ the center of my life is … and fill in the blank.
