Cutting Off Sin

Have you seen the movie 127 Hours with James Franco?  I haven't seen it in a few years, but I'd recommend it.  It is a true story about Aron Ralston who got his arm stuck while hiking and had to cut it off.

If someone came up to you and said they cut their arm off you would think they're crazy.  If Aron Ralston told you his story you would say that he did what was necessary.  Cutting an arm off is only sane if it is worth it.  Van Gough cutting off his ear was stupid.  Ralston cutting off his arm was brave and brilliant.

Watch him tell his story here:

"If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.  It is better 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 sin, 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

Jesus sees sin the same as Aron Ralston saw the rock that pinned him.  Sin is going to kill you.  Do what you can to escape it. 

Jesus was using a metaphor here but He is very serious.  We won't understand why Jesus spoke with such seriousness until we understand the gravity of sin.  We won't understand why we need to be so ruthless with our own sin until we fully understand that God exerted His full wrath on Christ to crush Him because of our own sin.  We won't understand this parable until we understand that sin is out to kill us!

In the video above Ralston and Tom Brokaw had this interaction when talking about the moment Ralston had sliced his own arm completely off:

Ralston- "I was free."

Brokaw- "You were reborn."

Ralston- "That was the happiest moment of my life.  It's funny to think about it.  There will never be a more powerful experience for me.  It was absolutely the greatest experience.  To be given the chance to get out of here.  Looking down canyon, I knew I had a hell of a trip left, but at least I was not going to die right here.  And the power of that was astonishing."

I think Jesus may have told Aron Ralston's story in Matthew 18 if the disciples had known the story.  Sin wants to kill us, but Jesus wants to give us rebirth.  Every victory over the trappings of sin is an experience of our rebirth.  When we understand how awful sin is and what it wants to do to us we can have a euphoric experience like Ralston when we avoid it or cut it out of our life.

Remember that sin is deadly and then act accordingly.  Cut it out of your life today.