AN ARM AND A LEG

Recently in the night I heard the phrase, “It must have cost an arm and a leg.” It was a familiar phrase that I remember my mother used when I was growing up. It was a common saying to others as well. It meant that something appeared to be costly and expensive. For example: To look at a new car, house or clothing or whatever and say, “That car must have cost an arm and leg.” Meaning… a lot.

As this came to me I also remembered the teaching of Jesus: “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.” (Matthew 5:28-30) This teaching costs an arm and a leg. On both the eye and the hand Jesus teaches it is better to lose part of our body than for our whole body to be ’thrown into hell.’

I processed this immediately as: surely this is an unnecessary and radical idea. Then I heard the Lord say, “Tell me about it. They hung my whole body on a tree. It cost me everything.”

“If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one foot than to be thrown into hell with two feet. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It’s better to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, ‘where the maggots never die and the fire never goes out.’” (NLT) Jesus