proverbs 9:8-9
rebuke a wise man and he will love you. instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning. “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

there's this great verse in matthew 5 that is very encouraging for those of who struggle with sin. it goes like this:

matthew 5:29-30
"if your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. it is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. and if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. it is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

i don't know about you but i feel better now after reading that!

i think if we all followed this literally, we would all be walking around mamed... i know i would. so what's Jesus getting at here?

i think, if i can offer my thoughts (and i can because it's my blog and there is nobody here to stop me), he is speaking metaphorically of the severity in which we need to deal with the sin in our life. there comes a point when we keep falling into the same sin traps that we need to say, "enough is enough" and not put ourselves in those situations anymore.

if the internet is causing you to sin, limit, filter and/or cut off your access to the internet. if the television is causing you to sin, turn off the cable. if there are certain places you go that lead to sin, don't go to those places anymore. if there are certain relationships that lead to sin, cut off those relationships. it is better to hurt a little and to be inconvenienced than to spend eternity in hell.

and it isn't about just making it difficult for us to access the things that lead us to sin, it's about making it impossible. because if we only make it difficult, we will find a way around the difficulties when temptation comes. but if we make it impossible then when temptation comes we cannot and will not fall to it.

i heard the story recently of a guy who used to travel a lot for work. spending the night in hotels frequently with no one around, gave him easy access to pornography on the hotel movie channels. he would certainly feel remorse and guilt after participating in the sin and would convince himself that next time it would be different. but next time would come and temptation would hit and he would inevitably fall again. after doing this over and over again for years and years, he finally learned about the concept of radical amputation from matthew 5. now when he went to stay at a hotel, the first thing he would do is literally unplug the tv and remove it from his hotel room. now when temptation came it was no longer an option for him to fall to that sin.

find the patterns of sin in your life and radically amputate them. it might hurt a little bit, and it might inconvenience you a bit but the rewards will far outway the challenges.

a couple years ago the group all american rejects put out a song called "dirty little secrets." the lyrics and video are below. in the video you'll see people holding up index cards in which they express the "dirty little secrets" that they have never told anyone. these are actual secrets sent in by anonymous people. some are quite funny, others are pretty serious.

i wonder what would happen if the church actually created an environment where people could feel safe sharing the junk in their lives, their "dirty little secrets." and not just to get it off their chests but to actually find hope and healing. i pray if nothing else this will become a safe place for you to do that. feel free to post a comment if you need to get something off your chest.





"dirty little secret"

let me know that i've done wrong
when i've known this all along
i go around a time or two
just to waste my time with you

tell me all that you've thrown away
find out games you don't wanna play
you are the only one that needs to know

i'll keep you my dirty little secret
(dirty little secret)
don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret
(just another regret, hope that you can keep it)
my dirty little secret

who has to know
when we live such fragile lives
it's the best way we survive
i go around a time or two
just to waste my time with you

tell me all that you've thrown away
find out games you don't wanna play
you are the only one that needs to know

i'll keep you my dirty little secret
(dirty little secret)
don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret
(just another regret, hope that you can keep it)
my dirty little secret

who has to know
the way she feels inside (inside)
those thoughts i can't deny (deny)
these sleeping thoughts won't lie (won't lie)
and all i've tried to hide
it's eating me apart
trace this life out

i'll keep you my dirty little secret
(dirty little secret)
don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret
(just another regret)

i'll keep you my dirty little secret
(dirty little secret)
don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret
(just another regret, hope that you can keep it)
my dirty little secret
dirty little secret
dirty little secret

who has to know
who has to know