What or Who is the Cause of my Sin?

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. 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 with two eyes to be thrown into hell,
(Mark 9:42-47 ESV)


Who or what is the cause of your sin? What or who tempts you to sin?

This passage is pretty weighty. I just finished reading Mark 9 this morning and feel inadequate to speak much about it. It seems more time and more prayer is required for this text to have the impact it appears to deserve.

I have a few thoughts though, and maybe more will be explored another morning when I have a greater amount of time.

WHO CAUSES ME TO SIN?
It is better for you, if someone kills you, then for you to be the cause for a Christian to sin. That is amazingly frightening. Death is better for me, than if I cause a Christian (one of these little ones who believes in me) to sin. Which gets me thinking about how I could cause another Christian to sin. Do you talk of things that can cause a Christian to sin? Do you cause a Christian to look at things that would cause them to sin? Whether that be external from you, or actually you?

At very minimum (because it is illegal for me to be the one doing the murdering), this implies that I should cut off people from my life that cause me to sin. I should cut off people that cause my children to sin.

This has to be taken with a view of the whole of Scripture though. I can not divorce my wife if she causes me to sin, because the Bible speaks specifically about the situation of marriage. If the Bible speaks in another place of where this would not apply, I am not to cut this person out of my life.

WHAT CAUSES ME TO SIN?
Whatever causes me to sin, I need to cut it off, whether that be a part connected to me, or something external from me. I am reminded of the movie Fire Proof. Kurt Cameron's cause of sin is his computer, he is addicted to internet pornography. There is a scene where he pulls it off his desk, brings it outside and smashes it to bits with a baseball bat. He "cut if off" from his life. He eliminated the temptation.

Now the sin still has roots in his heart that the computer revealed, but the elimination of the temptation is the first step in conquering the sin (combined with prayer). "Watch and pray least ye enter into temptation."