If your hand or your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hellfire. Matthew 18:8-9

Last week, we explored the words of Christ regarding the way that we relate towards others, ensuring that our words, actions, thoughts, and motivations are not being a stumbling block for the faith of others.  We are to have a concern for the holiness of others and how we can support them.  At the same level of concern, we are to also pursue holiness in our own lives, evaluating how the practices and decisions of our faculties (hand, foot, eye) lead us into righteousness or into sin.  Yet, Jesus uses visceral language in our text, calling for the removal of our body parts in the pursuit of that holiness.  This week, we will see how we put these words into practice as we seek greatness in God's kingdom.