I recently started to read Matthew 5. I say "started to read" because there is so much in this chapter that is important and focusing on sections helps alot. In specific I would like to talk about verses 18 through 30.
18 "For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
19 "Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 "for I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
21 "You have heard that the ancients were told 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.'
22 "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
23 "Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.
25 "Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.
26 "Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.
27 "You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY';
28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already commited adultery with her in is heart.
29 "If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
30 "If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
This is a passage that really hits me hard and I'll make an educated guess that it applies to you as well. This passage begins by telling us that Christ is not here to take away the law. Too many people think along this line, Well, Christ saved me so if I do this "little sin" it won't really matter. Christ saved us but he still expects us to try our best and become more like him. It goes on to show us how bad these "little sins" can be. it equates several small, frequent offenses to what we think of as "major sins".
Tell me if I'm wrong, but those of you who have brothers (I believe that this is probably a universal term, and anytime I say "brother" you could plug in "sister", etc) have, at an extremely conservative estimate, been angry at or even hated your brother(s) at least 2 or 3 times. (Ha! maybe if it was per day) But seriously, if I asked how many of you have never been angry with your brother, (given, of course that have one) not one of you would claim this. And every time that we are angry with our brother, we are as guilty as if we have commited murder. I deserve the death penalty about a million times over, and the eternal death penalty even more.
The next part that grabs the attention is "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY". Well, I'm safe from that one, right? Well first lets look just one verse farther. He tells us that if we even look with lust after someone, we have commited adultery with them in our heart. Ready to reconsider whether or not this applies to you? This may or may not have been a common problem in ancient times and/or times leading up to the present, but in present-day America, with the way that our attire or lack thereof is heading, this problem is getting worse every year.
Finally it goes so far as to say we should cut off any part of our body that helps us to sin. Hmmm, if I went along with that advice I'd probably end up being an appendix (I can't think of anything which it does), and that would make it a wee bit hard to type this up. However, hopefully this does not mean that we should literally mutilate ourselves, because if it does, then I'm way behind on schedule. It is stressing the point that we are not to focus on this present physical life, but look ahead to what will happen when we die. It stresses importance based on eternity, on our spiritual existence rather than our short existence on earth.
Obviously this passage has a lot to say, much of which hasn't even been touched by this post. This is the reason for devotions. We go to God's Word on our own time and try to understand it. As our walk with Christ advances, so does our understanding of His Word. Each time we read a passage we should see more in it than we have before. We'll never fully understand all of The Bible, but there's no harm in trying.
