If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire. - Matthew 18:8
This life is so full of danger that even its best things may become stumbling-blocks. Our very qualities of strength may become fatal forces driving us to ruin. Human beauty is a reminder of life as God originally intended, and yet beauty has proved a snare to many a woman, drawing her away from God. Power to make money is a risky gift, which has led many men to spiritual ruin. It is better to throw away the power to make money and instead go through life poor with the talent wasted and shriveled, and reach heaven, than to exercise the gift and grow rich, and be lost forever. These are illustrations of our Lord's meaning when He speaks of cutting off the hand or the foot which causes us to stumble.
The appetites, desires, and ambitions are part of the glory of humanity, and yet unconstrained they have sent many good people to destruction. A steam ship which had been out on the sea for a long time finally arrived in port. An accident had happened which caused it's delay. The coal gave out; then all that would burn - cargo, stores, furniture - had to be burned up to bring the vessel home. At last she gained the shore, but stripped of everything of value. Yet it was better to burn up all her cargo and stores than perish at sea.
Some men can get to heaven only by sacrificing every earthly pleasure and crucifying every desire; but who will say the prize is not worth the sacrifice? The hand had better be chopped off than steal or strike down another. The foot had better be cut off than carry one into crime or sin. It's better for your eyes to be pulled out than cause your soul to die by watching pornography. A man on a wrecked ship had better throw his bags of gold into the sea and have his life saved, than hold on to the gold and sink into the waves.
Apply This To Your Life Today... Be careful of those things that vie for your attention and can cause you to stumble!
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