Devotions
Cut Off the Rotten Part
If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. – Matthew 18:8-9
Recognizing
What Is Unhealthy
I have
never seen a rotten ginger root, but there
are times when its colour and texture no longer look like the fresh,
healthy root I am used to. When that happens, I am not sure whether it is
safe to use, so I cut off the unhealthy-looking part and throw it away.
The other day, I had a large ginger root in my hand that I wanted to cut
into pieces for cooking. As I cut into it, I noticed that the colour did not
look right. I cut that part off, then another piece, and then another, until I
finally reached a healthy-looking section. I lost a big chunk of the ginger,
but I was sure the rest was safe to use.
As I looked at the small part I was left with, I remembered what our
house helper used to do when I was still young. After buying a sack of
potatoes, he would spread them on the ground, remove the spoiled or unhealthy
ones, and put the good ones in a basket. When I once asked him what he was
doing, he replied that he had to remove the bad ones so that the good ones
would not also be spoiled.
The Hard Words that Give
Life
Is
Jesus then telling us to mutilate our bodies? We dearly love
every part of our bodies. Yet I personally think the eye is one of the most
precious parts, and I believe many people feel the same way. Even the Bible
confirms this when it says that God’s children are as precious as the apple of
his eye (Zechariah 2:8).
Therefore, when Jesus says that if your eye causes you to sin, you
should pluck it out, he is emphasizing that nothing, no matter how precious it
may be, should hinder us on our way to the Kingdom of God. Not family, not
friends, not possessions, not achievements, and no one or nothing else.
Sometimes
the words of the Bible are very hard to swallow. No wonder that, one day, some
of Jesus’ followers who were not deeply rooted in spiritual things left him,
saying, “This is a hard teaching. Who can
accept it?” (John 6:60). Yet, when Jesus asked Peter if they also wanted to
leave him, Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
(John 6:68). Yes, his words are hard, but they give life, like a
pill that is too bitter to swallow but cures the disease in the end.
Breaking the Influence of
what Causes Us to Stumble
In
God’s eyes, the part of your life that causes you to stumble is considered
rotten. Therefore, it should be removed, or, more accurately, its
influence over your life, your spiritual walk, and your decisions should be broken. If it remains, it can block
your usefulness in God’s Kingdom and cause your
gifts and talents to be wasted. If it is not removed, it may also spoil
the rest of your life.
As mature Christians, we should learn to look at both sin and the
Kingdom of God comprehensively. Sin is any disobedience to the Word of God. If
God tells you to go right and you refuse, you are living in disobedience, even
if that is hard to accept. Anything that causes you to live in disobedience
must be cut off.
Whenever we live in obedience and do what God wants us to do, we are
building and living in God’s Kingdom here on earth as we prepare for eternal
life in heaven. In many instances, we block God’s blessings and presence in our
lives because we walk in such disobedience while deceiving ourselves. We may
think highly of ourselves simply because we do not steal, kill, commit
adultery, or do similar things, yet still ignore the areas where God is calling
us to obey.
Choose Obedience Before the
Cut Becomes Painful
I have
a harrowing personal experience. For a long time, God told us to cut off certain things and people and to go a
different way. For a long time, we refused. We did
not want to, and in our eyes, it did not make sense. But finally, God had to
sever the ties. Though any cut can be
painful, this one was especially painful. We could have spared ourselves
the heartaches and headaches if we had
walked in obedience sooner.
So, if there is anything, a habit, a thought process, companions, attachment to things, or sin as we commonly understand it, that stands in the way of doing and becoming what God expects from you, it is time to cut it off with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Posted : Sep 21, 2026