READING:
One-year plan: Genesis 10-13, Matthew 5:1-30
Two-year plan: Genesis 6–7, Matthew 2:16–3:12
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The gospel really is radical in its grace, and it’s radical in its demands. The gospel call to obedience is so high that Jesus used quite an image (gouging out eyes and cutting off arms) to describe how radically we must make that commitment. Framed in the context of dealing with lust issues – but surely applying to sin in general – the image requires us to take whatever steps are necessary to break sin patterns. For example, I deal with many young men who are losing the battle with Internet pornography, both on their computers and on their phones. I have no issues in calling them to take increasingly drastic steps to overcome this issue: get an accountability partner; put a filter on your devices; let someone else set the password; keep your computer in a public place; confess your sin to someone every time you fall.
They will often go that far, but they buck when I challenge them to get rid of their phone and/or their computer if that step becomes necessary. “I can’t do my schooling or my job without them,” they think. That may seem to be the case, but a radical faith might demand such a step. Using a landline and only a public computer is a small sacrifice to pay for obedience.
Here’s the point: a half-hearted, surface-level, partial commitment to forsaking sin doesn’t result in victory. To state it another way, adopting a New Year’s resolution or turning over a new leaf is not the same as gouging out your eye.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Do you need to take any radical steps in your life?
PRAYER: “Father, show me where I need to change.”
TOMORROW’S READINGS:
One-year plan: Genesis 14-17, Matthew 5:31-6:8
Two-year plan: Genesis 8-9, Matthew 3:13-4:11
*portions of this devotion first published in 2017