27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, 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 right 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 go into hell.
Here we see that Jesus did not come to abolish the law. He came to fulfill it. He came to take it to an even higher level because we had been conveniently justifying our wicked hearts by our outwardly acceptable behaviour.
Though obviously our behaviour is important to God too, it`s what lies behind the behaviour that is crucial. God is not just concerned about the exterior, but also about the interior. Yes, it is extremely important to not commit adultery, but those who entertain lust for anyone other than their own spouse are just as sinful as those who act on that lust. (Christian women drooling over Magic Mike and 50 Shades of Grey come to mind). This includes lusting after anyone outside the confines of marriage - pre-marital sex, extra marital sex, pornography, all of it. God is not wanting only sinless behaviour - He`s wanting sinless hearts, otherwise it`s just a facade of religious activity covering up vile and evil hearts.
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Proverbs 4:23
God is about heart relationship, God is about internal transformation God is about motive and internal desire. If we do not understand this, if we do not understand the seriousness of sin and how evil and vile our hearts are, we will never understand salvation, we will never be able to proclaim the gospel (since we won`t even truly understand it ourselves), and we will never understand sanctification. We can`t appreciate the transformation if we don`t understand how vile we were or realize the magnitude of the change.
Sin must be dealt with radically. In v29-30, Jesus is not saying that there is a physical remedy to heart issue. What He`s saying is that sin must be dealt with radically and anything, no matter how precious to us, is causing us to sin or causing us to cater to the temptation, we must rid it from our lives. There is nothing too precious to eliminate from your life if it is causing you to sin. Sin must be dealt with radically.
Holiness is always a matter of the heart. Before we ever commit any act of sin, the seed of that sin was cultivating in our heart. When we receive the gift of salvation we also receive a new heart and with it the ability to have victory over sin through His power.
God alone can enable us to be pure in action, word, thought and desire.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Matthew 5:31-32
1 comment:
I think this is a really important point - that it DOES matter what our "internal dialogue" is. It's great to not actually physically commit an outward act of sin, but our hearts and minds and attitudes need to be pure as well.
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