Gouge out your eye

And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. – Matthew 18:9

People take this verse in Matthew metaphorically. But should we? If the wages of sin are death, and something is causing you to sin, I think literally is the only way to take this verse.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

I have not gouged out my eye yet, but I think it’s important to think about the importance here. Something like There is no sin in heaven, so if you can’t stop sinning, what will you do? Don’t introduce yourself to God saying, I would have stopped, but I could stop doing this one thing. This verse to me, is saying, what can you do to remove that thing? If you can’t delete the app, can you disable it. Can you get rid of your phone? Or do you need to gouge out your eye?

This is uncomfortable, but I don’t see a way around it. Let me know if you disagree.