Jesus is using a bit of hyperbole in His teaching in today’s passage. The use of such grand exaggeration was a pretty common teaching method in Biblical times. The problem it presents for contemporary readers is our tendency to focus on the wrong emphasis. Once you hear something about cutting off your hand or gouging out your eye, it is hard to think of anything else. Jesus’ point is that the Kingdom of God is so very wonderful, beyond anything we could describe, that we would want to overcome any obstacle preventing us from entering into God’s presence.
We would do well to ponder Jesus’ comments about sin. We live in an age of entitlement. Personal responsibility or accountability is not emphasized nearly as much as the notion that we have a right to expect to be cared for regardless of the decisions we make in life.
Jesus has been teaching that our entrance into God’s Kingdom brings about a change in our way of thinking. We learn to think of ourselves, others, and the world we live in from God’s perspective. Children of God’s Kingdom have a new vision for life that centers around; a hunger for God; a heart for other people; and a hatred of sin.
Our human nature wants to negotiate with God. “Come, let us bargain” we want to say to Jesus. Just how much do we need to hunger for God? Just how much do we need to care for our neighbors? Just how seriously do we need to hate sin?
God says that anything we do, in any way, shape, form, thought or deed, to live our life apart from God is sin.
To make it possible for us to enter into the Kingdom of God Jesus gave His life as a sacrifice for the sins of all we do, in any way, shape, form, thought or deed, to live our life apart from God.
Can our response be any less than hating the sin in us, for which Jesus was crucified?
What does today’s reading reveal to you
about God?
What does it reveal to you about yourself?
Think about what God wants you to do
or remember about this passage.
Does God want you to change anything in your life?
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