42 “If any of you cause one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched. 49 “For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good, but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Prayer Focus: Author and lawyer, Bryan Stevenson, says in his book Just Mercy, “I believe each of us is more than the worst thing they’ve ever done.” When we sin, that sin has ripple effects. It can cause pain and injury in our lives as well as the lives of those around us. And it doesn’t stop there, we often carry around the weight of our wrongdoings with us and it eats away at us causing even more pain. Cutting off a hand or a foot sounds extreme, but the whole body is worth more than just one part of it. You are worth more than the worst thing you have ever done. If you are carrying around the burden of a wrongdoing this week, pray for forgiveness, practice repentance, and ask God to remove that burden from you.
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