Radical Commitment

“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it

away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your

whole body to be thrown into hell” (Matt. 5:29, NIV).

Dwell on the words of Jesus in the above text. Would you call them

radical? If so, why?

Radical action is necessary not because God has made the Christian

life difficult, but because we and our culture have drifted so far away

from God’s plans for us. People often wake up and wonder to them-

selves, How could I have gone so far away from God? The answer is

always the same: just one step at a time.

Read Matthew 5:29, 30. Jesus is speaking in the context of sexual

sin. However, the underlying principles apply to dealing with other

sin, as well. Indeed, the principles can apply to our growth in Christ

in general.

What crucial point is Jesus making with those words? Are we really

called literally to maim ourselves?

Jesus isn’t calling us to harm our bodies physically—not at all!

Rather, He is calling us to control our minds and therefore our bodies,

no matter the cost. Notice that the text does not say that we should

pray and that God will instantly remove the sinful tendencies from our

lives. Sometimes God may graciously do this for us, but often He calls

us to make a radical commitment to give up something, or start doing

something, that we may not feel like doing at all. What a crucible that

can be! The more often we make the right choices, the stronger we will

become, and the weaker the power of temptation in our lives.

God sometimes uses crucibles to catch our attention when there are

so many noisy distractions around us. It is in the crucible that we real-

ize how far we have drifted from God. The crucible may be God’s call

for us to make a radical decision to return to our Father’s plan for us.