“If your eye makes you stumble, tear it out… if your hand makes you stumble, cut it off…” said Jesus. On two different occasions. About two different matters. (Mt 5:28-30; 18:8-9)
I’ve had personal experience with a debilitating, defeating, besetting sin. For the life of me I could not find lasting victory. I would turn over a new leaf. Make promises. Covenants. Vows… you name it! But no matter how or what I tried, that particular sin always came back and whipped me.
One day Jesus’ hyperbole finally made sense: whatever was leading me down the pathway to my sin had to be radically cut off. I had to take whatever severe, uncompromising actions were necessary to keep from even getting on the pathway to temptation. Because once I entertained that temptation it was all over. I was done for. I always succumbed to the temptation.
Jesus’ hyperbole was the key to lasting victory for me. The Holy Spirit helped me understand where the true battle was taking place and what it was that had to be radically, violently cut off. As I pressed into obedience at that level, I began to experience Christ’s victory over that defeating, besetting sin.
As the years have gone by, the Holy Spirit has pointed out other besetting, defeating, debilitating sins in my life. And try as I might, I just can’t seem to find lasting victory. Then one day the light bulb goes off and it’s as if the Lord Jesus says, “Do you also want victory over that stumbling block? Then you’ll have to take radical, uncompromising action. Drastic steps. Are you desperate enough that you’ll go to that extreme for lasting victory?”
If you find yourself a prisoner to a sin that always seems to get the better of you, and if you’re desperate for lasting victory over that sin—desperate enough to take radical, uncompromising action—then ask the Lord Jesus to show you clearly what it is that must be cut off and how to hack it off. I have never known Jesus not to answer such a sincere, desperate plea for help.