The scriptures are not gentle when giving direction on how to handle sin. In fact, they teach that if your hand offends you, cut it off. If you have wandering eyes…pluck them out. (Mathew 5:29-30) Wow! That is super strong advice for how to handle what the world tells us is no big deal. Can you imagine listening to a talk nowadays, where the speaker said, if you look at pornography, pluck out your eyes? That would not be politically correct, and my guess would be that it would bring some severe backlash. But why does the Lord use such drastic measures when teaching us to avoid sin at all costs? The New Testament gives us the most accurate and to-the-point reason; “not that thy whole body should be cast into hell” (Mathew 5:30). These seemingly small things, eventually over time, when not repented of, corrupt the whole mind and body. The Lord is telling us, it’s not worth it!
Now please, by no means am I actually saying that this type of action should literally take place. ABSOLUTELY NOT! I am simply saying, we need to recognize the severity of the sins we rationalize and justify in our lives. Then we need to find a way to cut the access off, so that we can move freely towards Christ. The sooner we make the cut, the easier it is and the better off we are.
I have a friend who’s a surgeon–she tells me that when it’s time to make an incision, you don’t go slowly, you cut it clean through. It makes for fewer problems. That’s exactly the same attitude we need when cutting off the source of our sin. Just cut it clean, and never look back.
I have a couple of stories to share where this “cut it off”, or “pluck it out” attitude was applied.
First, one about my sister, who understood the importance of modesty even when it was difficult.
“In high school, running was my passion. I loved it! And worked hard to improve each year. In the off season I would run twice a day, as well as often fitting in a cross training exercise. I basically lived in my running attire, which consisted of shorts and a tank top or t-shirts. I avoided tank tops for awhile because I wanted to be modest, but I eventually gave in because it was so very hot in the Arizona heat. When I allowed myself to wear tank tops it very quickly became a habit. After all they were much more comfortable and cool in the heat. That also meant that I was wearing them now most of the day, since I lived in my workout attire.
Mom noticed that my younger sisters were starting to follow my lead, and slide a little on their modest dress. She asked me on several occasions over those couple years to consider getting rid of my tank tops so that I could be a better example to my sisters. That was a tough thing for me to do, which is why it took awhile to follow that wise advice. But the day finally did come that I felt the importance to make the change. My motivation came because of my sisters. I wanted them to make good choices and knew I needed to set the example. So I decided to throw all my tank tops away. It was very hard! I threw them in a bag as quick as I could before changing my mind. As I was taking them to the trash I grabbed a bunch of cleaning supplies and junk and threw it in with them, as a further prevention to me changing my mind.
I’ve never regretted making that choice. It was hard getting used to t-shirts all the time, and being ok with the dark farmers tan I obtained, but worth it!
It was much easier to maintain that choice and simply not allow myself to buy more, once they were out of my closet and not temptingly staring me in the face.” -Cindy Woodruff
“Young women everywhere who know they and others are daughters of a loving Heavenly Father show their love for Him by living virtuous, service-oriented, exemplary lives. I have been impressed with young women who were dressed modestly in a very hot and humid part of Brazil. They said, “Modesty is not about the climate. It’s about the heart.” These young women knew they were daughters of God.” -Susan W. Tanner
My second example is from my brother Jeff. He, like most young men, enjoyed video games. After some serious introspection, he realized that the video games were not making him a better person.
“It started one day when my mom told me the she didn’t like when I played video games because she felt that I was rude to her when I was playing them. I told her that was retarded. I immediately thought to myself how rude that response was. I decided to watch myself. I paid close attention to my responses to my mom while I was playing video games. I observed that I was short-fused and quick with her when I was playing. For example, she would ask me to take out the trash and I would tell her I was busy and would do it in a second, even though I wasn’t busy doing anything important. I also realized I had less tolerance for her. When I saw her coming home, I squirmed because she was going to ask me to do something. After observing myself, I realized she was right.
Then we had a family potluck. I was playing on the computer. My mom told me that everyone was here and the food was ready. Once again I told her I would be there in a second. When I finally came out, everyone was gone and all the food was gone. Mom told me I missed everything, she said that they had a great time and took lots of pictures. Most guys don’t care about pictures, but for some reason at that very moment it really hit me, it just needed to, so it did. I thought about how in a few years everyone would look at those pictures and talk about what they talked about, and I would have no idea. They would look at the pictures and wonder where I had been. It really impacted me. I went home, and got my computer and Xbox together. I thought about selling the Xbox, but knew that if I didn’t get rid of it that moment I wouldn’t be able to. So I took the Xbox outside and pretended to trip and drop it. That way I could blame it on tripping, and justify it in my head. Then I quickly picked it back up and slammed it down to make sure it was dead, before I could have second thoughts and try to rescue it. I gave my computer to my brother and told him I didn’t want it anymore.” -Jeff Conover
“Are you careful with your time–avoiding inappropriate technology and social media, including video games, which can dull your spiritual sensitivity?” -M. Russell Ballard
Both of these examples have made a huge impact in my life, because they represent the importance of squashing those items or actions in our lives, as soon as possible, before they spread and become giants. I have used both of these examples with my children, to give them encouragement to keep fighting. It’s refreshing to know that these decisions are tough for everyone, yet it is possible to rise above. My favorite part of both of these stories is that each of my siblings realized the Holy Ghost was assisting them, and they realized that they may not always be strong enough, so they took strong measures to eliminate, or “cut them off”, and eliminate the temptation completely out of their lives permanently.
“You simply cannot ….do a swan dive into Babylon, and spend endless hours scoring meaningless points on pointless video games without falling into a deep spiritual sleep. Nor can you indulge in online pornography and ignore virtue and chastity without dire spiritual consequences. If you lose the Spirit, you are lost. Don’t be distracted and deceived.” -Kevin W. Pearson
Listen to the Apostle Peter’s invitation to become a disciple of the Savior:
“Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
“And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
“And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” (2Peter 1:5-7)
-Sherri Jorgensen
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