THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 9:42-50
“And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out.” (Mark 9:47)
Jesus is talking about the seriousness of sin.
His words seem extreme – pluck it out, cut it off – but that is the point.
Sin, like cancer, requires severe treatment – amputation, chemo or radiation.
Jesus describes the hellish consequences of untreated sin… it burns.
Jesus is mixing metaphors – fire and salt – to show us how to deal with sin.
Salt was used to preserve from meat from going bad.
And fire could be used to remove the impurities, to refine with fire.
He urges us to ‘fight fire with fire’, and to prevent bad taste with salt.
Yes, fire burns us, but nothing like the ultimate consequences of sin.
Yes, salt changes us, but a change for the better, not for the worse.
Practically speaking, Jesus is saying we need to fight the power of sin.
We need to aggressively attack its negative, destructive impact… for everyone’s sake.
Use the fire of discipline and the salt of goodness to change for the better.
Promote peace, healing, love with your lives, not their hellish opposites.
Take sin seriously before it seriously takes you and ruins you, and others.
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, I know that this is true, yet some sinful attitudes or behaviours seem harmless, insignificant… like a tiny cancer spot? Help me to take my sin seriously!