Mutilation

 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.
Matthew 5:29 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/mat.5.29.ESV

Thankfully we don't have to take Scripture literally, otherwise we'd be mutilating ourselves. What we do need to do is take the Scriptures at their intended meaning. Jesus is saying we have to kill sin, or sin will kill us.

If we're honest, we all look at things in the wrong way from time to time. It could be lustful looks, as in the context, or even covetous cravings for example. We tend to minimise sin, but God doesn't.

Jesus says that adultery starts in the mind. We don't just wake up one day next to the wrong person. It's a process that starts with lustful intent.

We like to think we can divorce lust from adultery. Yet Jesus clearly teaches that lust is the root and adultery is the fruit. We need to weed it out, or it will overrun our lives and make our lives wastelands.

'O Father in heaven, have mercy upon us we pray. Wash us in the blood of Jesus, and conform us to Him by His Spirit. In His name we pray, amen'

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