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In The Garden Daily Devotional
"GET RID OF IT"
Pastor Wayne Clabaugh
CORRECTED COPY
Scripture Text: "And if your right hand
causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. It
is better for you to loose part of your body than
for your whole body to go into hell." Matthew
5:30 (KJV)
In Friday’s devotional our text said, "And
if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast
it from thee:". In today's text we read
"... if our
right hand causes you to sin... "cut it off".
My
goodness, it makes a guy wonder what’s going on here
doesn't it. Chapter 5 is ending up with two pretty
drastic measures suggested by Jesus himself.
In some countries, if a person is caught stealing,
their hand is cut off. If they are caught in
adulterous situations, one or both are stoned.
Purity in some lands comes at a pretty high price.
I remember teaching a class of pre-teen boys several
years ago for Sunday school, and I had just read
that particular passage of scripture when I noticed
one of the little guys hung his head. So after class
I asked him if he was okay. He told me that he had a
bad habit of hitting his little sister when she made
him mad and his daddy had told him that if he didn't
quit, he was going to cut his hands off. Having
heard it in the Bible now, he was worried that it
might really happen. I gave the young man a hug
holding back a little laugh and said, "Don't worry
buddy, you're daddy won't cut off your hands”. His
daddy got a good laugh out of it later - and
promised to go through it with him. He realized his
words had been a little harsh - but again, never
thought the boy would take it literally.
What Christ was teaching here was if there is
anything in our life which causes us to sin whether
we have bad habits or a desire for sinful pleasure,
or even an association which could cause us to do
wrong… we need to "get rid of it". It should not
even be a part of our life. To live a life of
self-control, we need to keep a constant watch over
our every thought and deed.
As Christians, we must resist the beginning of, or
thoughts of sin – before we act on them. We must
decline "even the company" of those who will cause
us to stumble. We can't be like the alcoholic in one
of my appointments who went with his buddy to keep
him from drinking. They both getting so drunk, they
had to have the police come and take them to detox.
The Bible puts it this way…
“In all thy ways acknowledge
him, and he shall
direct thy paths.” Pro 3:6 (KJV)
Feeling weak because of the onslaught of the devil…
tell it to Jesus! Just can’t stand the way someone
is treating you and you so want to retaliate… tell
it to Jesus! There’s even another way to look at
that verse. When you are tempted to do wrong by
someone “ACKNOWLEDGE HIM” (JESUS!), and tell
them that you don’t do those kinds of things. When
someone asks how you keep from getting involved with
the office gossip, or how can deal with such an
unruly boss… “ACKNOWLEDGE JESUS” and give HIM THE
GLORY!
Allow your thoughts of Jesus and your daily exercise
of reading the WORD and praying to be your healing
balm in all of your times if testing. Then ask the
Holy Spirit to fill your mind with good thoughts.
One of my wife's favorite fairy tales is that of
Peter Pan. To this day she loves to watch it with
the grandchildren. She says as a little girl she
used to dream of flying away from all the things
that hurt her. Her favorite scene is when Peter is
in the children's bedroom. They have been watching
him fly around. They wanted to fly. They tried and
tried but kept failing. How do you do it? John
asked. Peter replies, "You just think lovely,
wonderful thoughts and they lift you up in the air.
Oh! My brothers and sisters in Christ are there any
more lovely wonderful thoughts than those of our
Wonderful Lord and Savior and those of Heaven and of
all promises of God? TODAY THINK ON JESUS!!
Let’s Pray:
Father: I do admit that there are things that I do
and say that I could avoid with your help. Come Holy
Spirit and be my controller and lead and guide me in
the paths of righteousness this day, In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
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