Why We Should Get Rid of Sin at Any Cost

“The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst” Deuteronomy 17: 7.

This passage is referencing the consequences for sin, specifically, idol worship in ancient Israel. God doesn’t take it lightly. And He invokes the most severe of judgments possible.

Jesus Tells Us to Be Ruthless

We see this same idea in the New Testament when Jesus when Jesus says:

“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell” Mathew 5: 29, 30.

It’s the same spirit of ruthlessness in dealing with sin and purging evil. If we really were this ruthless in dealing with our sin, we would enjoy much greater abundance and blessing and promise land living.

To read the whole passage for context, click here.

There’s nothing more valuable and precious in a community than the people living in it. And nothing more valuable and precious to our body than our right hand or right eye.

Zero Tolerance

And yet if these are found to be instruments to sin, we must do away with them. This should give us some understanding of the heinous nature of sin. And the devastation it causes.

Apparently being maimed or blinded in an effort to purge sin is less devastating than the damage the sin would cause if we left our sinful body parts intact. Of course, this shouldn’t be taken literally. But the idea is we must rid ourselves of sin at any cost! Even at great cost.

Being free from sin must be our highest priority. Sin is apparently more devastating to us and others than our right eye or hand is beneficial to our body.

We would never dream of doing the kinds of things taught in scripture in an effort to purge ourselves of evil. Our perspective and understanding of evil is certainly skewed. And not in accordance with the truth.

To the degree we accommodate and allow and accept sin, to that degree will we be robbed of abundant life. And experience destruction instead.

Desperate Measures to Get Rid of Sin

God sees sin as so injurious and destructive that people who commit it must die. Or that the parts of our body used as instruments of it must be destroyed.

The Bible condones desperate measures to rid ourselves of sin. God must certainly know something of the ruinous, destructive nature of sin we don’t. The truth is sin is our only real enemy.

Other people or the devil cannot do us any real harm if we are free of sin. In fact, sin is what makes us a target of other people and the devil. Because if we sow to the flesh we reap destruction.

To read another post related to Why We Should Get Rid of Sin at Any Cost, see The Link Between Faithfulness and Righteousness in the Bible.