"If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away… if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away." (Mt 5:29–30)
For years I thought Jesus was expressing a hyperbole—a shocking metaphor to tell us to take sin seriously. Even to practice radical amputation: cut off whatever in your life is causing you to stumble.
While it’s true we should take sin seriously, it's missing the deeper message.
As a clinical psychologist, I've seen how this passage often affects people. They judge themselves harshly, drowning in shame, wondering if they're really taking sin seriously enough. The internal voice whispers, "If you truly loved God, wouldn't you go this far?"
