would you give your right arm?

So, this is my last full week of school here in Tokyo. I gotta say that I am so ready to get back to the states its not even funny. To be honest I find myself just kinda spacing out in class thinking about that good long plane ride. Well... for the time being I just have to be patient, or find a worm hole or something.

But, enough about my day. Today I was reading in Mark today and came across some really thick stuff. It's funny, all these people like to say, "well, Jesus was a good teacher, a good moral leader, or a prophet." They just think of God as this big happy motivational speaker, that was giving everybody high fives and free buffets of bread and fish. But... MAN if they read his teachings I think they would have to change their minds. Jesus is INTENSE! The specific passage I am talking about in Mark is one that you probably have heard of, but just let the weight of this passage hit you. It's Mark 9: 43-48

43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.44 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 47And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where " 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.' 49Everyone will be salted with fire. 50"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other."

I mean, this is how bad sin is. THIS is how bad sin really is. That it would be better for us to go through life blinded, and maimed then to have sin in our lives. Sin is a deadly poison, and the scary thing is, that sometimes we don't even know its there. Other times we may even like the taste of that poison, and desire it. All the while the poison is seeping into our souls and sapping us dry. Atrophying our souls and making us spiritually anemic. That is how bad sin is. Better to have one eye, better to have one hand then to have sin.

On top of that imagine what it does to God when we drink of this poison. Think of all the people in this world right now that drink deep of the poison and aren't even aware of what they are doing to themselves. I know that this just nailed me right between the eyes. I know that sin is bad, and that I am taught in church that its not a good thing... but when you sit and think about it, that's the stuff that pinned Christ to the cross. Christ came and DIED so that we we could be pure before God. So that we could experience the Lord. That's how bad sin is.

Now, I don't want to sound legalistic, and I know that we are human, and that we make mistakes and that it is in our nature to seek out this poison. What I am saying is don't allow yourself to become complacent and calloused to sin. I am hard at work to do this in my own life so I am right there with ya. Just know how bad sin is, and its this sin that is responsible for sending our friends, neighbors, and family to hell. Remember that, and us the redeeming power of Christ's death on the cross to purify yourself and share that power!

I know I am NO WHERE NEAR!!! where I need to be, but Lord willing I want to try and get there.