More Than Actions

As I read these verses in Matthew 5:21-30, I hear a battle cry, “It is finished.”

Jesus’ teaching in Matthew is asking us to look deeper; action alone is not the only way we commit sin. Our feelings and thoughts are the root of sin and bring judgment upon us. Therefore, we cannot claim to be sinless merely by lack of sinful action. Christ alone is without sin, and the rest of us are to be judged.

Jesus tells us it is better to cut off an arm or gouge out an eye, if it brings about sin. This language speaks to the laws of ancient Babylonian, Biblical, Roman, and Islamic principles of reciprocal justice: Measure for measure. The measured punishment of sin is for our whole body to be cast into Sheol. Death. 

Death is the just punishment for our sin. But God, rich in mercy, sent His only Son to save us from that death. Jesus cried out “it is finished” on the cross so that we could enter, through him, into a place of peace and love. Not just in heaven above but within the Kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven.

I have had radical change in my life that has felt very much like losing a limb, for the more I walk with Christ the more separated I become from the things of this world, things that feed the flesh and bring about sinful desires. I repent and my heart shifts to desire the holy life that God has for me; fleeing not just outward sinful actions, but for my inner person to be renewed. 

Anger. Murder. Lust. Adultery. When our hearts condemn us, we don’t have to despair. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus! As we battle sin in our own lives, we fight from a position of security. Christ has won the victory! Hosanna in the highest heaven!

-Nikki