A young man was delivered from a life of self-destruction in the form of drug abuse. He turned from his old ways, but of course was pursued by the enemy and tempted back. It was clear to him that he could not afford to be lenient with himself in allowing the least indulgence in the old habit. One day he said to his pastor, “Don’t ever allow me to use the word ‘struggle.’ Every time I use it I am excusing disobedience, I am really prefering to ‘struggle’ rather than to quit.”

Jesus made this necessity sharply clear when He said, “If it is your eye that is your undoing, tear it out and fling it away; it is better to enter into life with one eye than to keep both eyes and be thrown into the fires of hell” (Mt 5:29).

To struggle–that is, to allow a “little bit” of sin, to be cautious with ourselves, tolerant of a certain amount of plain disobedience, is to try to keep both eyes.