Put Off or Put Away

Here is a thought I have been working through in my head for the last couple of days.  I am currently reading the book of Judges, which if you have not done I recommend, and there is a phrase that jumped out to me.  If you don’t know anything about the book of Judges here is the basic format:  the people of Israel sin, God allows them to go into captivity, and then He raises a judge to rescue them, and they follow the Lord till the judge dies.  The whole book is that cycle repeating itself over and over again.  Sound familiar?  It should, that is our lives.  Anyway, in one of the times when they were repenting and turning back to the Lord the people “put away” their idol and worshiped the Lord (Judges 10:16).  Put Away!?!?  What does it mean to put away?  What do you do when you put away something in your house?  Put Away!?!?  Does this mean they put them on the shelf, in the closet, or pack them in a box?  Now contrast that with the passage in Eph. 4, when Paul commands us to “put off” and then to “put on”!  What is the difference between “put away” and “put off”?  Let’s think about a few other concepts in order to answer this question.  First, Jesus taught radical amputation.  When Jesus was teaching on sin one day and said that is was better to gouge your eye out then to allow it to keep looking at things that cause you to sin.  Now does that mean we should all be walking around without eyes?  No!  What it does mean is we should be getting rid of all the things that make us stumble and cause us to sin.  For example: if we sin when we are at the computer, then don’t sit at the computer or at least only use it in public places; if there is a place/person that when you are together you always end up sinning or going down a path that is not pleasing to the Lord, don’t go to that place or hang out with that person.  You can continue to apply that to your specific situation.  Also, think about Heb. 12:1-2 where we are commanded to throw off sin and the things that entangle us in order to run with endurance.  Living with our eyes fixed on Christ.  In the Gospels we see Jesus driving out the money changers that are in the temple.  He didn’t tell them to put there stuff in the closet or the back room; He grabbed a wipe and started turning over tables.  He wanted the sinful things and false worship out of his Father’s house.  Finally, let’s think about belief.  What does it mean to believe?  I hear a definition lately that I really like: to place your full weight on something or someone.  So, if we are placing our full weight of Christ is there any need to keep our sin or idols around?  Jesus wants us to place our full weight on him without a backup plan.  If it goes down, which it won’t, we are going down with it.  I wonder if the people of Israel just put their idols away because they had most of their weight on the Lord but they kept there toe on that idol just in case. 
 
Now if we are to radically amputate, throw off, clean house, and put our full weight on, does it sound like there is any room to just put away?  Look at your own life.  Look at the sin, the idols you create, and the things that often distract you for the Lord.  What are you doing when them?  When you realize they are there, what have you been doing with them?  Maybe it is time to stop merely putting them away and start putting them off?  May the Lord give us grace to do just that!!!
 
Live in light of the cross
Pastor Matt

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