Beware of snow blowers …

The young pastor’s post on Facebook this morning captured my attention. It said church service was cancelled today.

Why?

He accidentally cut off his finger in a snow blower.

Ouch!

First, I prayed for him. Then I thought what it would be like to lose a finger.

It would hurt like crazy at first! It would affect, to some degree, how you handle things, but a person can adjust to the loss of a finger.

While this story was an accident, Jesus used a similar picture to emphasize the degree to which we should go to remove sources of temptation to sin from our lives:

27 “You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, 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. 30 And if your hand—even your stronger hand—causes you to sin, 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 be thrown into hell,” Matthew 5:27-30.

Although Jesus is using very strong examples here, it’s not to be dismissed as hyperbole. The message we dare not miss is that the cost of sin is so utterly destructive we must do what must be done to remove sin from our lives.

I’m definitely NOT encouraging anyone to remove body limbs. I am highlighting that is was Jesus Christ, Himself, who sets the tone for how serious we need to be at eliminating — entirely! — those things in our lives that entice and draw us into sin.

How serious are your efforts to put out of your life completely the sins you would rather feed?

Scotty