My Utmost - Direction Of Discipline

Donate Direction Of Discipline

And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. — Matthew 5:30 Jesus did not say that everyone must cut off the right hand, but — “If your right hand offends you in your walk with Me, cut it off.” There are many things that are perfectly legitimate, but if you are going to concentrate on God you cannot do them. Your right hand is one of the best things you have, but, says Jesus, if it hinders you in following His precepts, cut it off. This line of discipline is the sternest one that ever struck mankind. When God alters a man by regeneration, the characteristic of the life to begin with is that it is maimed. There are a hundred and one things you dare not do, things that to you and in the eyes of the world that knows you are as your right hand and your eye, and the unspiritual person says — “Whatever is wrong in that? How absurd you are!” There never has been a saint yet who did not have to live a maimed life to start with. But it is better to enter into life maimed and lovely in God’s sight than to be lovely in man’s sight and lame in God’s. In the beginning Jesus Christ by His Spirit has to check you from doing a great many things that may be perfectly right for everyone else but not right for you. See that you do not use your limitations to criticise someone else. It is a maimed life to begin with, but in v.48 Jesus gives the picture of a perfectly full-orbed life — “Ye shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Bible in One Year: Job 14-16; Acts 9:22-43

Biblical Ethics, The Moral Foundations of Life, and The Philosophy of Sin Ethical Principles for the Christian Life Timeless counsel for today’s Christian based on the only reliable and unchanging source—the Bible. BUY NOW

My Utmost for His Highest © 1927 in the U.K. by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. © 1935 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. All rights reserved. United States publication rights are held by Discovery House, which is affiliated with Our Daily Bread Ministries.   Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.   Special offers are valid only for orders placed online and may not be combined with any other offers or coupons.   Manage Your Subscription