Thursday 24 Feb 2022

February 24: Mark 9:42-48

Key Verse: Mark 9:43
If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.

Devotion:
For the longest time I used to think these verses were horrible and unloving in some way; but they show us true love in a way instead! When we are tempted, we give in and go off to do something else wrong in our lives. The more we do things wrong, the more easily we seem to be turned away from righteousness and the more we give in to the things we should not.

When Jesus was teaching the disciples, His words may have seemed harsh at the time, but they were there to lead the disciples into the best path forward; sometimes that path is not the nice easy path we think of in our lives, but the hardest way we think forward. Jesus wanted the disciples to know we have a choice and the choice is what will set us free. We can choose to continue following the things which get us into trouble, or we can choose to turn away from them.

If it is something dear in our lives (illustrated here by body parts) which is causing us to stumble and turn away from God, then should we continue to depend on that or should we turn away from it? Sometimes, cutting it out of our lives all together is the only way forward because we are so dependant on our old ways. God wants to set us free, but we do have to make the choice to want freedom from our sins.

Some religions have taken these words too literally and they will cut off your hand when you use it to commit a sin. God does not want us to chop all our body parts off which are getting us into trouble – He wants us to see the issue we have and turn away from those sins to live a better life with Him. It is our choice!

Points to Ponder:
Do you get into trouble a lot?

Are you willing to turn away from that part of your life?