How do we control this lust that so very often leads to hurt relationships and to a hurtful view of ourselves? The answer may not seem as obvious as it sounds. Sometimes we just need a little surgery in our life. We just need to remove that sin from our life! Let me note that what Jesus tells us here can be applied across the spectrum of sin in our life, not just lust. Listen to Jesus’ answer first and then let me explain
Matthew 5:29-30 (TNIV)
29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell [Gehenna]. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell [Gehenna].
When Jesus tells us to get rid of our eye or our hand, He was speaking figuratively. I do not believe that Jesus meant for us to gouge out an eye. Why? Because even a blind person can lust. I believe that what Jesus was saying was that we need to surgically remove anything in our life that causes us to stumble or sin.
Many of you know some of those ways to surgically remove toxic things in your life because many of you are dealing with addiction in your life. I have certainly dealt with addiction in my life. You know that it is important to separate yourself from other people, places and things that would cause you to stumble and to fall back into your addiction. To rid myself of the addiction to drugs, I went back in the Army and signed up to go to Germany (I felt that God gave me this answer, and yes, I wrestled with it!). I indeed changed the people in my life, the places and things. It worked.
I like how the theologian John Stott put it:
“What does this involve in practice? Let me elaborate and so interpret Jesus’ teaching: If your eye causes you to sin because temptation comes to you through your eyes (objects you see) then pluck out your eyes–that is–don’t look! Behave as if you had actually plucked out your eyes and flung them away and were now blind and so could not see the objects which previously caused you to sin. Again, if your hand or foot causes you to sin because temptation comes to you through your hands (things you do) or your feet (places you visit) then cut them off. That is: don’t do it! Don’t go! Behave as if you had actually cut off your hands and feet and had flung them away, and were now crippled and so could not do the things or visit the places which previously caused you to sin.”
Job 31:1 (TNIV)
“I made a covenant with my eyes….”
Am I suggesting a new “legalism” with all this? No way! Jesus says, “If your right eye causes you to sin …”–not anyone else’s eye, but YOUR eye. We are all different. We stumble over different things. One thing may arouse one and leave another unmoved. I want to also point out here that Jesus tells us the result of sin: Matthew 5:30 “It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell” [Gehenna].
There are many words in the Bible that are translated as “Hell”. The word Jesus uses here is “Gehenna“. Gehenna was a place, a real place in the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem. It was a dump, a place where the filth and dead animals of the city were cast out and burned. A place full of worms eating the filth, a place that fires never ceased. The Valley of Hinnom, Gehenna, clearly describes a place of torment!
Think about it, with any addiction….indeed, with any sin: drugs or alcohol, stealing, lying, greed, and yes–immoral sex–the fire never goes out, we are never quenched, and we are always longing for more! It becomes HELL, doesn’t it.
“Paging Jesus, paging Jesus, the patient is prepped and ready for surgery………”