“If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.” [Matt. 5:29-30]
As long as we are alive the flesh will desire sin. The question facing us today is how willing are we resist and fight against the flesh. This is a hard scripture. Before I was saved as a child I read these verses and was shocked to think about plucking out my eye or cutting off my hand. What is the point Jesus is making?
If you have areas in your life where you are weak and give into sin, you should remove those areas. For example, there are certain channels that should be eliminated from your television. Like a moth drawn to flame you might be tempted to view those channels. The best solution is to remove those channels. When we lived in a previous town I could not get ESPN without getting several channels with garbage. I chose to go down to a different tier in our program package and lost all of our sports channels. It was hard but it was also worth it.
You might be forced to give up things like Facebook, where you are tempted into immoral communication and actions. You might be forced to give up certain kinds of music, or spending time with certain friends or co-workers who cause you to stray in your thought life. You might be called to give up credit cards, which can be used to feed materialism.
How serious are you and I about resisting sin? Jesus is dead serious. I say dead serious because He willingly died on the cross to defeat the power and penalty of sin. If video games dominate your time, distracting you from more time with the Lord, then perhaps video games need to be removed from your life.
The Holy Spirit is more than able to reveal those areas of your life that cause you to stumble. This is the moment of decision. Will you remove those things from your life or will you embrace them? Each choice has consequences. Obeying the Lord will lead you another step closer to revival. Disobedience will lead you away from the Lord.
Steps to Revival
1. Take some time to indentify any area of your life that causes you to stumble. Do not rush through this. Let the Holy Spirit reveal these areas.
2. Ask the Lord what things you need to remove. Do not put this off. Whatever He says you need to remove be diligent to obey promptly.
3. Ask the Lord to give you a hatred for sin and a desire for pure and holy living.
4. Ask the Lord for help in being delivered from any bondage to sin.
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