The Urgent Necessity of Mortifying Sin

"If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off an throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell."

Matthew 5:30

I heard today that the imagery here draws from the medical world, that of amputation. The speaker mentioned that a surgeon amputates a limb or appendage because its affliction has the potential to weaken other members. In the severing you lose a vital part of the body, but you save others in the process.

This imagery then poses for us the urgent necessity of mortifying our sin. In putting sin away, we keep ourselves from falling into further sin. Once a sin is committed, we are more apt to repeat that sin and so become more hardened in it. But that sin also serves as a doorway to other sins.

Sin is never content to be alone. Its nature is to multiply and add to its aggravation--just like an wound that is not adequately attended too. Sin is a gangrene that loves to gain victory over healthy, righteous behavior.

In substance abuse education they talk about "gateway drugs." I'm not thoroughly versed in the subject, but it goes something like this: alcohol abuse oftentimes leads to narcotics, narcotics open the door to marijuana, marijuana can become the gateway to heroin.

This progression is not limited to the area of substance abuse. The same can be true of anger (as the context of Matthew 5:30 implies). Harboring anger in the heart leads to mouthing angry words. If the issue is not put to death, then one moves in the direction of homicide.

One must remember that behind every scandalous sin there are typically a multitude of "lesser" sins. Each of these sins we often call "minor" or "insignificant." But a garden can be overrun with thorns and thistles with the sowing of just one weed.

Just as a single dandelion can destroy your yard by summer's end, a single (do I dare say) "insignificant" sin can wreak havoc if it is not plucked out. How many souls would have averted that adulterous relationship had they not allowed themselves to be idle months ago. How easily that church could have avoided falling headlong into apostasy if they had committed themselves to fervent prayer at its beginning.

Because sin's nature is to multiply and foster grosser sins it demands the most immediate attention. Like that vile weed, sin must be plucked out. Like that diseased limb, sin must be lopped off--urgently and finally.

Let us then tend to our souls condition. Look to the Word of God that you might gain the knowledge of sin. Look to your soul that you might detect its presence. Then do not be hesitant, but impale the heinous thought, word or act with the nails of the cross.