“If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you” Matthew 5:29
How do you deal with sinful habits? You’ve probably never gone so far as to remove the offending body part! We struggle with this passage because we don’t fully comprehend the seriousness of sin nor the severity of its punishment. Sin sent Jesus to the Cross. If God dealt radically with sin, then shouldn’t we? But before we start cutting off our hands, we need to look closer at the point Jesus is making.
When dealing with sinful habits, we usually try to modify our behavior. That’s because we define sin as the action itself. Jesus, however, draws our attention to the underlying attitudes. We don’t hesitate to call murder and adultery sin. But Jesus points to the attitudes behind the actions—anger and lust. Spiritually speaking, there’s no difference between murder and anger (Matthew 5:21–22), or between adultery and lust (Matthew 5:27–28).
Every sinful habit starts as a sinful desire. For example, the habit of gossip might originate in envy, jealousy, or pride. The outward behavior, while still sin, is a symptom of a deeper issue. The things we do outwardly are just expressions of what we think about inwardly. Warren Wiersbe put it this way, “Obviously, our Lord is not talking about literal surgery; for this would not solve the problem in the heart.”
You see, salvation isn’t about changing your habits but the desires of your heart. Anything that doesn’t reflect the character of Christ needs to be dealt with decisively. Until you correct the heart problem you’ll continue to have a habit problem. As you focus on Jesus and yield to the Holy Spirit, your habits will naturally change for the better.
What sinful habit are you dealing with? Have you tried and failed to change the outward behavior? Ask God to help you recognize the underlying sinful attitude. Does your heart have any trace of lust, anger, pride, greed, or covetousness? What other attitudes has God brought to your mind? Confess those things (Psalm 51) and deal with them radically. Get rid of anything that’s out of line with the character of Jesus.