The Overstated Metaphor

How do we advance in life? How do we see the blessing of the Lord poured out on our businesses, employment, families and relationships? Jesus gives us a key to answering these questions when He says, ‘if your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off’ Matt 5:30. It is clear that Jesus did not intend this statement to be taken literally. We’ll call it an overstated metaphor. Jesus is teaching the principle, of removing everything that stops us from progressing and advancing in life. If we fail to remove these things which damage us, then they can and will destroy us. The second half of this verse reads, ‘better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to go into hell’.

The fundamental of the gospel is not that Jesus died for me, but rather that ‘we are being changed from one degree of glory to another’ 2 Cor 3:18. Change does not come by osmosis. The only way we change is by embracing the ‘overstated metaphor’. We know that we don’t actually cut our hand off. The overstatement is bizarre enough to ignore its true meaning. However, we ignore it to our peril. We need to heed the point that Jesus is making, and cut off from ourselves everything that stops us from changing and moving forward in life. Our continued application to change is the key to happiness in life.

If we are not going forward, we are going backwards. The kingdom of God is moving on and increasing with or without us. As we age, we must not become consumed with worry about life and stability. Happiness will find wings and fly away. Anxiety in life depletes our drive and initiative. It strips us of our confidence to step out in faith and take a risk. As our anxiety increases, and everything in life continues to progress, we find ourselves further and further behind.

Why does this happen? It happens whenever security becomes more important than progress. Life and the gospel are about progress. Until the moment we breathe our last, we should be changing from ‘one degree of glory to the next’. Our society is changing rapidly. Our children and our children’s children will not enjoy the security that we currently have. We need to constantly pursue Godly increase rather than security. We must teach our children to do likewise.

The risk of faith never gets easier. Each new step of faith is always as hard as the previous. When we take a step of faith, we are laying hold of something that we have never had before. The things that got us to where we are can easily become the things that stop us from progressing. If we stop, we are going backwards. If we don’t embrace the risk of faith then we are dying.

‘We should aspire to be everything that the Lord calls us to be. The only way to achieve this is by giving and carrying the burden of offering.’

Many people are intensely afraid of risk, forever talking about doing and intending to do. But they never actually take the step of faith to do something. Of this anxiety Jesus said, ‘Cut it off’. It must be removed. Otherwise it will destroy us. Anxiety stops us from obeying the command of the Lord to go forward.

Peter writes, ‘in the last days mockers will come with their mocking … saying … all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation’ 2 Peter 3:4. This is the attitude that says, ‘What worked then, will work now. There is no need to change’. However, there is always need for change. The word of the Lord is always ‘new’ and it calls us to move forward to a place we’ve never been before. The Lord calls us to take risks of faith and generate increase, both personally and financially.

Many business people have discovered the biblical principle of giving and that it generates increase. They are called philanthropists. This principle is evident in many facets of life. However, it is clearest in the kingdom of God itself. If we want to generate increase in the kingdom then we need to give. If anxiety or something similar is stopping us from giving, then we need to obey the Lord and ‘cut it off’.

We should aspire to be everything that the Lord calls us to be. The only way to achieve this is by giving and carrying the burden of offering. Giving always involves risk. ‘If I give it away, will God supply my needs?’ This is why faith is so necessary.

We should ask ourselves, ‘What stops us from giving?’ These are the things we must cut off. There is nothing more rewarding in life than cutting off the things which hold us back. We find peace when we ‘cut off’ our anger, and forgive. We find rest, when we ‘cut off’ our anxiety and fear.

The Lord is calling us to increase and move forward. Are we able to ‘cut off’ everything that hinders us and follow His call?

David Baker

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Feature Articles
March 2008

Reckoning Faith

The Sound of Home

The Duties of Wealth

The Mystery of Lack

A Good Shepherd

The Overstated Metaphor