I've often been challenged on the idea of taking the Bible literally, and the most common example is Jesus' words in Matthew 5: "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell."

I'll bite that bullet. Let's take that one literally too. Jesus is saying that it is LITERALLY better to be blind than to be addicted to porn. He's saying that it is LITERALLY better to be blind than to watch Game of Thrones, 50 Shades of Grey, or other pornographic TV shows/movies.

Jesus is disarming us. We try to say that we just can't stop sinning, and He's saying that if we still have our eyes, we haven't tried hard enough. It's a simple fact that most people caught up in sin haven't done nearly enough to get out of it. Jesus is taking all of your excuses away.

Over against false teachers like Tullian Tchividjian, Jesus is commanding us to strive for holiness. He's commanding us to do more to struggle against sin. In the words of Hebrews: "In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood."

That's the standard. In our struggle against our own sin, let's give up our excuses, beg for His Strength, lean on the Body of Christ, and start making war on our sin. Literally.

Jesus did.