Cut Them Off?

November 21, 2012

There’s a verse in Matthew that says if our hands or feet cause us to stumble, it’s better to cut them off and go through life maimed, rather than have two hands or feet and end up in eternal fire.  That’s a stern statement!  And it implies that if we’re stumbling, we have the power to cut off the things that are making us fall.  It’s in our hands…to keeps our hands…out of trouble.

So what does all that mean?  How can our hands cause us to stumble?  All I can think of is that hands hold, hands give, hands clinch into fists, hands soothe or slap, and hands clap.  I’m sure our hands do a number of things, but this is a good start.

If our hands hold onto old patterns, hatred, etc. we will stumble.  If our hands hold onto what we’ve been given and refuse to share, we will stumble.  If we clinch our fists at God when things don’t go our way, we will stumble.  And if we slap instead of soothe, and forget to clap for joy when we are blessed…we might just stumble and fall over.

We want and expect God’s hands to be always open, always holding, always caressing and always full.  We are made in His image and He wants the same from us, as we learn His character and His ways.

Are your hands causing you to stumble?  Before cutting them completely off, try emptying and opening them, and offering them up to the One who created them.