"If It Causes You To Sin..."

There was this one time that I got on to my son for playing with his toys during communion. I made sure that he knew communion was a time to be quiet and still to allow others to peacefully reflect on themselves and the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It only took for him to get in trouble for it once for him to know not to do it again.

The following Sunday, he noticed that the time for communion was nearing, and handed his toys over to me. I’m assuming he saw the confused look on my face because after giving them to me he whispered, “I want to make sure that I don’t play with my toys at all right now.” And that was a proud Mommy Moment for me.

My boy knew that he would be tempted to play with the toys as long as he kept them. And he knew that he would probably fall into that temptation and get in trouble again. This made me think of what Jesus said in Matthew 5:29-30 during His sermon on the mount. “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”

This is one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible. Jesus isn’t literally telling us to cut off parts of our body—but He is showing us how serious sin really is. He’s calling us to do whatever it takes to stay spiritually clean, because our place in Heaven is worth far more than anything this world can offer. Our flesh won’t inherit eternal life—our spirit will. And if our spirit is unclean, Heaven won’t be our home. That’s why we must live in a way that keeps it pure.

If something in our lives is leading us to sin, even if it seems essential or valuable, it’s better to give it up than let it destroy our soul. We should be willing to take extreme steps to remove sources of temptation from our lives—no matter how much we may enjoy it. If a 5 year old can grasp this concept, then so can we!