Desperate situations sometimes call for desperate measures, and cutting the supply line to your earthly nature means getting radical. Jesus puts it like this: ‘If your right eye leads you astray pluck it out and throw it away…better…to lose one of your members than that your whole body should be thrown on to the rubbish-heap. Yes, if your right hand leads you astray cut it off and throw it away…better…to lose one of your members than that your whole body should go to the rubbish-heap’ (vv. 29-30 PHPS). Jesus is suggesting moral and spiritual surgery – and that’s radical! It’s impossible to argue, reason, or negotiate with sin. Whatever your personal battle with temptation is – alcohol, drugs, wrong relationships, pornography – its purpose is to destroy you. So you need to destroy it. The apostle Paul was familiar with Old Testament Scripture. He knew that Samson fell while Joseph stood strong when they were faced with similar temptations. That’s why he wrote to his spiritual son, Timothy, warning him about the sin that could disqualify him and keep him from winning the race: ‘Run from temptations that capture young people’ (2 Timothy 2:22 CEV). Life in today’s environment is saturated with seductive influences, which means we can’t always eliminate the source. So Paul tells Timothy – when you can’t remove the influence, remove yourself! And run, don’t walk. You can be free, but your earthly mind will only give you a few seconds before it decides for you. So don’t hesitate, don’t try to make excuses, and don’t procrastinate. Do what needs to be done – and do it quickly.
