It’s doubtless happened to you often. As you walk out of a shopping center, you are approached by someone who asks: “Could you spare a few dollars? – I need help.”
We have seen the signs many people carry, signs pulling at heart strings from every possible direction – “Homeless” “Veteran” “Injured” “Hungry” “Please help – God bless.” Some of these requests may reflect genuine need, but police officers and social welfare agents know that this is just a business for a good number of people, and that they are not truly destitute.
You know this, too, but how are we to judge a given case? What is the Christian’s right response when asked for help in such circumstances? God’s word shows that we should always be willing to give, but also that we should not give blindly. See our new article “The Savvy Samaritan” to understand Christian responsibility and the proper balance of care and caution.
“If conversion to Christianity makes no improvement in a man’s outward actions – if he continues to be just as snobbish or spiteful or envious or ambitious as he was before – then I think we must suspect that his ‘conversion’ was largely imaginary; and after one’s original conversion, every time one thinks one has made an advance, that is the test to apply. Fine feelings, new insights, greater interest in ‘religion’ mean nothing unless they make our actual behavior better; just as in an illness ‘feeling better’ is not much good if the thermometer shows that your temperature is still going up. In that sense the outer world is quite right to judge Christianity by its results. Christ told us to judge by results. A tree is known by its fruit; or, as we say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. When we Christians behave badly, or fail to behave well, we are making Christianity unbelievable to the outside world. The war-time posters told us that Careless Talk Costs Lives. It is equally true that Careless Lives Cost Talk. Our careless lives set the outer world talking; and we give them grounds for talking in a way that throws doubt on the truth of Christianity itself.”
Could you use some encouragement right now? Do you know anyone who could? Either way our new book is for you!
This new eBook is a collection of practical essays – some from past blog posts on our sites and some specifically written for this book – on a subject we all need to hear about: encouragement.
Some Days We Soar: Words of Encouragement for the Christian Lifeis available in different formats (including PDF so you can read it on any electronic device). The book is written from a non-denominational perspective, is completely free and free of advertising. You do not need to give an email address or any other information to download the book – just click on the link below and enjoy. Like all our books, if you find Some Days We Soar profitable, feel free to make a copy of the file and pass it, or the URL, along to your friends and others you know who may find the book helpful.
This book may not make your problems go away, but it may help you soar over them, so download it now and remember the encouraging fact we mentioned – it’s free!
“If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.” (Matthew 18:8-9)
These verses have sometimes been taken literally and, in extreme cases, used as a reason for bodily mutilation or removal of a hand, foot or eye. But is this really what Jesus meant for his followers to do?
The answer is found in two simple facts. First, Jesus often used figurative language in instructing his disciples and the crowds he taught. In fact, Jesus specifically used the eye and the hand with clear figurative intent on other occasions. Consider these two examples also found in the Gospel of Matthew: “The eye is the lamp of the body” (Matthew 6:22), and “… when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3). Clearly neither of these statements is meant to be understood literally.
Secondly, sin is caused by the mind and not by any bodily part or organ (James 1:14-16); and it is not possible for a hand or eye to sin of itself. For example, if our eye is involved in lusting, taking it out does not remove the sin because the mind can still continue to lust. The only way to remove the sin is to effect an inward change of the mind, as Jesus himself taught (for example, Matthew 23:25-27). The Hebrew Scriptures forbid cutting the body (Leviticus 19:28), and Jesus never contradicted any part of the law in his own teaching (Matthew 5:17-20) – only, on occasion, strengthening it.
When we remember that Jesus so often spoke figuratively using metaphors, similes, and parables, we can understand that in speaking of a hand, foot or eye that cause us to sin, he was really referring to someone or something in life that might be instrumental in causing us to sin. In fact, there is good indication that Jesus was actually referring to people in our lives who might cause us to sin. The words of Matthew 18:8-9 and Mark 9:43-47 appear directly after the statement that “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea” (Mark 9:42). The context would seem to indicate, then, that Jesus was referring to individuals who might cause sin to occur and who must be “cut off” even if they are as close to us as a part of our own body.
In Matthew 5:29 a similar figure of speech regarding removing a hand or eye is used in a different context, that of adultery, but once again there is no reason not to conclude that it is the person involved in the adulterous behavior that we must remove from our lives, not a physical body part.
This principle was applied directly by the early church in removing or “cutting off” any individual who, as part of the “body” (Romans 12:5), caused others in the church to sin (1 Corinthians 5:1–13, etc.).
Scripture:Romans 12:3 “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”
Something to think about: Is our self-perception or self-worth based on what we have, our appearance, our position in society or any other physical measure? What should our self-perception be based on? Once we can answer that question correctly, we know what the real value of our life is and why we are of inestimable value and potential in the eyes of God. At the same time, God’s word clearly shows we should not elevate ourselves above others in our own thinking!
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