{"id":774,"date":"2009-11-17T01:00:02","date_gmt":"2009-11-17T08:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbcbeacon.wordpress.com\/?p=678"},"modified":"2009-11-17T01:00:02","modified_gmt":"2009-11-17T08:00:02","slug":"cut-off-your-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/2009\/11\/17\/cut-off-your-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"Cut Off Your Hand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>by Elder Peter Lim<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Ladies and gentlemen, it\u2019s time. That\u2019s right. It\u2019s time to cut off your hand. To poke out your eye. Of course I don\u2019t mean literally.<\/p>\n<p>Matthew 5:29-30 says \u201cIf your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This passage is not teaching that we should literally dismember ourselves. Even if we did, it wouldn\u2019t cure us of our sin since this solution doesn\u2019t deal with the heart. But it is making a point that we need to take drastic measures to prune sinful behavior from our lives. Have you been struggling with the same sins for years and years? Have you made the same resolutions to not sin the same sin over and over again? Notice that this passage doesn\u2019t say to cut off someone else\u2019s hand if it causes them to sin. This hatred of sin is motivated by one\u2019s own desire to deal with one\u2019s own sin, not a desire to remove someone else\u2019s speck.<\/p>\n<p>What does this mean practically? Here are some suggestions. If your computer causes you to sin, get rid of it. Literally. Or only allow yourself to use a computer for particular purposes that you predefine as being legit. Are you tempted by your TV? Get rid of it. Or at least set some limits for yourself and ask someone to keep you accountable to them. It could be as simple as limiting the hours, particular programs, or only watching pre-recorded content on your DVR.<\/p>\n<p>Getting someone to keep you accountable may be a little humbling because you\u2019d be admitting that you have struggles in a particular area. Really, is eating humble pie so bad? Confess your proud hearts and take some bold steps to address your weaknesses. This isn\u2019t legalism. This is a sincere desire to honor God. Remember that He is as concerned with holiness as he ever was in the Old Testament since He never changes. As we ask God to change our hearts so that our actions are more consistent with His character, we will become more useful instruments for Him to use to minister to others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Elder Peter Lim Ladies and gentlemen, it\u2019s time. That\u2019s right. It\u2019s time to cut off your hand. To poke out your eye. Of course I don\u2019t mean literally. Matthew 5:29-30 says \u201cIf your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elders-corner"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}