TEXT: MATTHEW :5:29-30;

"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from
thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should
perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And
if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee:
for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish,
and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."(#kjv)

The body of Christ or the church of the living God is made up of individuals: these individuals, though many, formed the body of Christ, the church. For the church to be healthy, the constituent members or individuals must be healthy: sickness in the individuals would undoubtedly reflect on the church. A healthy church is a product of healthy individuals. When individuals make it a duty to develop themselves, they end up developing the church.

The owner of the the church takes keen interest in the growth of individuals: for the growth of the church is and can only be occasioned by the nourishment that every individual dutifully provides. A member that neglects to build up itself is a deficit to the body of Christ! The master has only one judgement for such member: "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away..."

Therefore, since the Lord understands this eternal law and working, He has made a provision for the development of each of the members...this provision is inherent and intrisinct in all the individual members. There is an inherent enablement in all believers for self-pastoring and shepherding. This justifies the thundering announcement from heaven: "Thou art inexcusable oh man!" No man is allowed to make any excuse at all. The omission or negligence of our pastors is not an excuse for our falling short of God's glorious expectations on our lives.

Now, let us draw some supportive and confirmatory illustration from our texts above: the man in our Matthew text above is a pastor to himself. His right eye would make him sin and thereby takes him to hell...he seems to have done every thing to ascertain what is the cause of his sin. I believe he must have gone for a lot of deliverance and prayers, but to no avail.

The cause of his sin is not external but resident in him! If he deals with a thing in his life, his deliverance would come. He asks and inquires from fellow men but he has no answers. No man seems to know his predicament. He was hell-bound! Woe is such a man! Even if others discover the cause of his temptation and sin, they would not be able to carry out the instruction of plucking off his eye for him. He realises by revelation that his eye was his problem...so only him can deal with his eye, the cause of his fall. Naturally, if a man brings a sharp object close to the eye of another, the common proclivity, is to protect the eye by turning away from that person. People around us love us so much that they would dare not remove a cansorous eye from us!

Brothers and sisters, it is our responsibility to lay hold on a jark knife and pluck out the eye that normally occasioned our fall! This is the highest duty we owe ourselves! Self-pastoring and discipleship is the most difficult and strenuous of all godly exercises! There is a log to be removed from our eyes by ourselves. This jark knife is the undiluted and crude word of God...sharper than two-edged sword...sharper than the sharpest dagger. We must use it to pears the dividing asunder of our souls and spirits and of our joints and marrow; letting it to cut swift and deep into our innermost thoughts and desires with all their parts, exposing us for what we really are. The owner of this jark knife knows about everyone, everywhere. Everything about us is bare and wide open to the all-seeing eyes of Him; nothing can be hidden from Him to whom we must explain all that we have done.

God has put His word in every hand, for the purpose of pastoring ourselves first and foremost. This word can pluck out the eye that offends, cuts off the hands that mishandles and the leg that strays. No man is exempted at all. Friends, we are duty bound to lead ourselves into the will of God...we owe ourselves an obligation to chart a cause that would take us to heaven even if it is excruciating like plucking out the eye and cutting off our right hands. It is an individual and personal instruction.

Note that no pastor would teach you to be violent against yourself: rather many would like to have you in piece even though you are not at peace with both yourself and God, so that they might not lose your membership. There are certain truth you would never hear from the pulpit... truth like: "cut off your hand" "pluck out your eye" and cut off your leg" if they make you ungodly and unfit for spiritual things and the next world!

If your pastor is encouraging you to continue in a relationship or a particular line of business because of your fat tithe which you verily know does not glorify God, what do you do? You have the jark knife and the sword other matchet...do not wait for him, because he would never tell you to use machet on that juicy business which has dragged you into many a sorrow.

Take therefore, charge of your life and quit waiting for approval from men before doing the plucking and cutting off of all that offends in your life! Circumcise yourself! Take up your cross! Arise and Go out of your tent to gather your daily portion of the manner: do not wait for "Moses and Aaron" for Moses can fast forty days and forty night, he can go without food that long; and Aaron and his household have access to the daily shew bread and all the offerings...all may be called upon to tithe even the manner gathered to them! do not imitate them! Do not sleep becase the are sleeping!May God give us light! Amen! To be continued.

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Emeka Joe Uzosike