(Mark 9:42-50 (ESV) “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Since we live from the inside out, and Jesus went around healing the lame, the crippled hands, and the blind eyes, we can safely assume that we are not supposed to literally hack our hands and feet off, and put our eyes out. When we look at it from the inside out, we can see three things.
First, remembering Jesus said that our eye is the lamp of our body. What you look at, and the way you see it, determines what you’ll do with it. If you believe you can eat a whole cheesecake every day and not gain about 100 pounds in a month’s time, you’re going to go right ahead and eat that cheesecake. I know I’m going to gain that weight, so I’m not even going to look at that cheesecake!
Let’s look at your feet. Pretend that cheesecake keeps calling you from the bakery. Oh, my! I know if I go to that bakery, I’m going to look at that cheesecake, and then I’ll be eating it…Nope, I’m not going to that bakery! C’mon now, your feet can’t go there on their own volition. You have to make the choice.
Your hands do the doing. Now you’re at the bakery. Oh, that cheesecake looks so good! Are you reaching for it? Not me. I know that cheesecake is bad for me; I can’t eat just one piece, and I’m not going to touch it! I’ll have the little cheesecake filled croissant instead.
It’s a lesson in knowing, going, and doing. It’s a lesson in knowing, not going when we know not to, and not doing when we know not to. Life is better when we live it right. When we get it right, our recovery becomes stronger, too.
The thing about causing someone else to sin, and to stumble in their walk, and the salt losing its saltiness, is important for every couple, family, group. It’s a powerful revelation about how easy it is to become arrogant and petty, jealous, selfishly ambitious. We’re told that where there’s envy, there’s all manner of evil. (1Cor. 3:3) (James 3:16)
This is why it’s so important to get the foot, hand, and eye thing down. The better we get at that, the stronger aide we become to others in the family of God.