"Cut It Off!"
Posted by: forthrightmag <forthrightmag@...>
http://www.forthright.net
Going straight to the Cross
When in danger of losing it all, whack away!
"Cut It Off!"
by Tim Hall
By now most of us have heard the story. A hiker
out west was trapped by a boulder. His arm was
caught, and he could in no way free himself. After
days of waiting for the rescue team that never
came, the man knew the situation was dire. With
his pocketknife he amputated his own arm, thus
freeing himself so he could walk to safety.
"I could never do such a thing!" many of us have
thought upon hearing the story. Could we not? Very
few of us have been in such life-threatening
situations as this hiker. If it came down to the
same choice he faced, we might just find it within
ourselves to do such a drastic thing. It's
impossible to say what we would do until we come
face to face with life or death dilemmas.
I said in that last paragraph that very few of us
face such decisions. Actually that's not true.
According to Jesus, we are all faced with tough
choices. The question becomes, How badly do we
want to live?
"If your right eye causes you to sin," said Jesus
in Matthew 5:29,30, "pluck it out and cast if from
you; for it is more profitable for you that one of
your members perish, than for your whole body to
be cast into hell" (New King James Version). He
went on to repeat the point. If our right hand
causes us to sin, He advised, "cut it off".
The hiker surely must have considered the
ramifications of cutting off his arm. Never again
would he have the use of that limb. Life would be
forever changed. He would need to learn new ways
of doing the routine tasks of life, and some
activities would have to be abandoned altogether.
But the choice was clear: Did he want to live or
not? Keeping the arm would mean death in the
wilderness. To live would require leaving the arm
behind.
Do we want to live or not? Sometimes we have to
make hard choices. Something that has been a part
of us all our lives is keeping us from total
devotion to God's will. Can we find it within
ourselves to "cut it off"? Or will we die in the
wilderness of sin with our imperfect self intact?
This is not to say that Jesus' words are to be
interpreted literally. Actual removal of a
physical limb or organ may not have been what the
Lord had in mind. But severe pruning of our
desires is absolutely the point!
Do we want to live? Then sooner or later we're
going to have to decide -- Am I willing to cut
"it" off (whatever "it" may be)? "He who finds his
life will lose it, and he who loses his life for
My sake will find it." (Matthew 10:39)
--
You can help us get the word out. Here's how:
forthright.antville.org/stories/340415/