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What Needs to Be Cut Out? · In the Stillness Podcast

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  Hey friends, happy Wednesday. It is friendly.
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  I'm so grateful you're spending a few minutes with me, and maybe
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  you're on a walk or driving or just listening in a quiet space.
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  My prayer is that this time would ultimately draw you closer
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  to Jesus and help you walk more faithfully with Him.
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  So today we're going to be in Matthew chapter 18, verses 6
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  through 9, where Jesus is giving us a very direct warning about
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  temptation and sin. And I believe it's one that we
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  all benefit from hearing. And before I go into reading it,
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  because it's got some, just like I said, direct language, it's
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  going to sound harsh, but I will get into just why it's so
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  important that we take this seriously.
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  So it's titled Jesus Warns against Temptation.
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  If anyone causes one of these little ones, those who believe
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  in me, to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large
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  millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths
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  of the sea. Woe to the world because of the
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  things that 'cause people to stumble.
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  Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they
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  come. If your hand or your foot causes
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  you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away.
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  It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to
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  have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.
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  And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw
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  it away. It is better for you to enter
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  life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the
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  fire of hell. OK, so like I said, I will be
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  going into why it is so important that this is so
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  direct, but I do want to go into some context before.
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  So in the passage prior, Jesus is talking about childlike
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  faith, and you can go back and read it, but he's basically
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  pointing to a child and showing us this is what true greatness
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  looks like in the Kingdom, to be humble, to be dependent, and to
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  be trusting. And if you think about it,
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  children are trusting by nature. They rely fully on their
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  caregivers and their parents. And in the same way, the more we
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  trust our heavenly Father, trusting that he protects us,
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  that he is our provider, that he gives us his best and his
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  perfect plan and timing, the more our faith grows with this
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  trust. And there's kind of a holy
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  weakness here. It's not a weakness that comes
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  from a lack of faith, but it's a weakness that says, God my
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  Father, I need you like I cannot do life without you.
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  And it's from that kind of dependency that it produces
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  humility and sincerity and our genuine hearts.
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  But then we go into the shift and Jesus, he gives a very, very
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  serious warning to anyone and everyone who causes one of his
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  children, ultimately believers, to stumble.
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  And scripture goes into two two main ways that this happens.
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  It could be through temptation or through neglecting or
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  demeaning their trust, so taking advantage of them and just
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  stripping them of dignity. And Jesus takes this very
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  personally because to harm, influence, or even mislead
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  someone who is walking in childlike faith, which is what
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  he commends, that is not something that he's going to
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  treat lightly. So I also want to just underline
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  that this doesn't mean we're going to.
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  We're supposed to walk through life passively or be naive.
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  We do have an enemy who, like Scripture says, is prowling
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  around us like a roaring lion. And he's consistently looking
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  for ways to tempt us, to distract us and draw us away
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  from God. And he will use people of this
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  world to influence us and get us to turn away, try to get us to
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  turn away. So we're called to grow stronger
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  and mature in our faith while we still remain fully dependent on
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  God our Father and be his child. So that's why spiritual
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  mentorship really, really matters.
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  Mature believers were called to watch out for newer Christians.
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  You may hear this referred to as like baby Christians.
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  But we are called to help them recognize temptation, to walk
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  with them through life as they learn how to resist sin.
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  Because growth, it takes time. And just like if you're training
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  for a race, like a marathon or something, it's gonna have to
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  take time and practice to get better and build that endurance
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  and resistance. And so no one is going to grow
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  strong just overnight. But it's through this
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  encouragement and this accountability and godly wisdom
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  that makes such a huge difference and can help you grow
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  even faster. So I just want us to ask
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  ourselves, one, if I've been following Jesus for a while, who
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  is someone in my life today that I can pour into maybe that I can
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  mentor or help motivate. And two, if you're newer in the
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  faith, who can I learn from and be held accountable to?
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  Because no matter how old we are, y'all, we all need mentors.
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  I personally, I have several. I have one who has been my
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  mentor since high school. I love her so much and we've
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  gotten to do live together for several years now.
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  And then I have one that's even older than her that pours into
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  me. And now I also mentor someone
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  who's younger and below me. But this is how the body of
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  Christ grows in the faith. So it's so important that we
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  don't forget about the importance of accountability.
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  So then Jesus, he uses language that it feels intense and you
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  hear cutting off a hand, plucking out an eye, like, OK,
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  so how does that apply to our day and age 'cause I don't think
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  he's telling us to do quite literally that.
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  But he, he's not calling for literal self harm.
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  He's using this strong imagery to make a point.
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  We must take sin seriously because guys, sin does not just
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  affect our actions and our physical, it affects our hearts,
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  our minds, it affects our eternity.
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  So when Jesus says to cut things out of our lives, he is
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  referring to tools, resources, habits, routines, relationships,
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  environments, these things that consistently lead us or point us
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  to sin. So I want to be a little
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  vulnerable here because I think it helps for practical
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  application. But I'm going to give you all a
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  few examples of things that I've had to cut out permanently or
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  just for a time to kind of jog y'all's mind and make you think
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  about your own things. So for me, social media, it was
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  becoming a distraction and honestly, I found myself
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  comparing to a lot of just posts and it's everybody's highlight
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  reel basically. And so I asked the Lord and just
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  felt convicted that I was wasting time on it too.
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  And so I took a 40 day fast from it, really just to refocus on
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  God and see myself through His eyes and His lens.
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  I even cut out certain movies that I used to watch or TV shows
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  that were not honoring him. In high school, I confess, I
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  worked out to rap music. I would live to it.
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  It made me feel really strong. But I noticed that it affected
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  how I spoke and my own thoughts and so I had to change that up
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  and cut out rap music and by the grace of God I don't listen to
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  that anymore. My last one is I used to track
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  macros a lot and use a scale to weigh my protein and just all
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  that stuff. And I think it started off with
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  good intentions, but it led to obsession and really just an
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  unhealthy focus on my appearance.
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  And so I had to cut that out. And none of these things I don't
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  think were sinful on their own. Maybe the rap music, because I
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  don't think blaring a bunch of bad words in your ear is good,
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  but they were all leading my heart in the wrong direction and
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  that's why I had to take them out.
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  So the bottom line, the truth is plainly stated.
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  Kill sin before it kills you. This is not something to toe the
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  line on. Jesus is direct because He wants
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  the message loud and clear. He does not want his children to
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  stumble. So also just before we start to
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  point fingers and in our head be like oh that person needs to
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  hear blah blah blah or whatever. Scripture calls us to examine
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  our own lives first and sin, no matter how we try to classify
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  it, however big it is in your head or however, however small
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  sin separates us from God and it does not belong in our lives.
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  So the Bible is clear. I'm going to give you all 2
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  verses that are just I think so straightforward and really
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  helpful to hear. First John 36 it says no one who
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  abides in him keeps on sinning. And then Romans 6 one through 2.
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  Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound?
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  By no means. So I just want y'all to listen
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  to these scripture, these verses and reflect on it.
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  Take a moment and honestly ask, is anything competing for my
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  focus with God? Is anything keeping me from
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  holiness and purity? What steps am I taking to combat
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  those things? So as I pray, just come to the
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  Lord right now and really focus your attention and your heart on
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  Him. Heavenly Father, God, we bow
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  down before you with open hearts.
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  Would you search us? Would you bring to light
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  anything in our lives that does not honor you?
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  Illuminate it. Father, give us courage to
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  remove and cut out what is leading us away from You, no
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  matter how uncomfy it is. Lord, we want to grow and mature
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  in our faith and pure holiness. Teach us how to grow in maturity
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  while staying fully dependent on You as children with a childlike
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  faith. Lord, may we protect one
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  another, encourage each other, and walk in humility and love.
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  Lord, this is a bold prayer, but it is a holy one.
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  Would You break our hearts for what breaks yours?
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  God, we do not want anything in our lives that separates us from
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  You. We want lives that reflect you
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  fully and we want to be transparent and we just, we give
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  you everything. We love you, we trust you, we
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  depend on you. We ask this, we ask this all in
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  your name. Amen.
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  Well guys, I hope you all enjoyed this episode and yeah it
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  was, it was a good one for me to sit on too.
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  So praying that the Lord speaks to you all through this and I am
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  so excited for the next one. Have a good day.