Avoiding Temptation
“If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out….. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Matt. 5:29-30).
To some this passage may seem strange and unusually demanding. Someone may ask, “Are we to take this passage literally?” The answer of course is “NO” (for one could just as easily sin with his left eye or his left hand). The point Jesus was making is this: if something has the potential to cause you to sin then you need to avoid it, walk away from it, cut it off and don’t look back (cf. Prov. 4:14-15). It is far better to sacrifice desire and to inconvenience yourself than to lose your soul over something.
A former alcoholic had agreed to meet a friend at a local bar. Though he had no intentions of drinking, yet because of the atmosphere, he caved in – a decision that eventually lead him back to alcoholism. Know this, friends: “…each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:14-15).
How are you at avoiding temptation?