Stop Before the First Step

“You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”

What can we do to keep from living as the world lives? We can watch the steps we take that lead to sin. If I am letting my eyes wander where they shouldn’t be, I have already committed to a path of sin. I have taken the first step. I just haven’t taken the next step on the path, but I’m on the way. What can keep me from going down the pathway of sin? Not taking the first step.

Does God want me to cut off my right hand if it commits sin? Does he want me to gouge out my eye? I don’t know. But these illustrations highlight for me just how seriously he wants me to take sin. The question doesn’t even come up if I do not take the first step. If I follow the pathway to sin then I know the consequences. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. As a non-believer, certainly it would be better to be without an arm or an eye than dead. That’s how seriously God takes sin.

Fortunately, we have been saved by grace, which means that every sin that existed in my past has been forgiven and I have been wiped clean at the moment of my repentance and acceptance of Jesus Christ. But what about my propensity for sin because of my sin nature? I should stop before taking the first step knowing that God takes it so seriously that he uses the analogy of cutting off part of my body to prevent it from sinning. Stop before the first step is taken.

Pauls says we must take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ. The path to sin begins in the mind. When the first thought occurs to me to look at something, spend time thinking about something, or do something that would not be obedient to Christ I need to stop right there. I cannot help it if these thoughts come into my mind but I can help what I do about them.