Pluck Out Your Own “I”

Pluck Out Your Own “I”                                                       February 8, 2026

Sin is such a terrible thing that Jesus said it would be better to pluck out your own eye and cast it from you if your eye causes you to sin (Matthew 5:29; 18:9).  According to the Lord, it would be better to be blind and go to heaven than to struggle with your lust of the eye only to lose your eternal soul.  That is quite a statement!  Eternal life is so important and should be the only real consideration for a Christian.  Being physically limited is better than having all of one’s faculties and going to hell.

Please allow me a play on words here: for “eye,” substitute the word “I.”  “If your ‘I’ causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it far from you…”  The words “I” and “Me” are two of the most dangerous words in our vocabulary.  People are often quite self-absorbed, and that is a dangerous thing to one’s spiritual life.  Sin is the result of one being drawn away by his desires and enticed (James 1:13-15).  The desires that James describes clearly have to do with self-interest.  If love of self keeps you from heaven, then it is certainly better to cut away your “I” and put others first.  Everything in the New Testament teaches us that a disciple of the Lord is one who puts others ahead of himself (Philippians 2:3-4).  Love does not seek its own (I Corinthians 13:5).  One is to seek the well-being of others rather than his own well-being (I Corinthians 10:24).

Unfortunately, most people struggle with “Me Syndrome.”  Consider these clear Bible examples.  Greed motivated the sin of Balaam (II Peter 2:15; Jude 11; Revelation 2:14).  Ananias and Sapphira kept back part of the proceeds of the sale of their possessions and lied about it out of plain old selfishness (Acts 5:1-10).  What drove David to sin with the wife of Uriah if it was not selfishness (II Samuel 11:1-5)?  Who could argue that selfish desire to possess real power from God was at the root of Simon the sorcerer’s sin (Acts 8:18-24)?

Are you one of those self-absorbed people?  The test is simple:  How many times a day do you say, “I”?  Do you talk more about what you think about things than you wonder what others might think?  Do you lecture people about what you like?  Are words like, “I think…I feel…I want…I need…I believe… I like…I don’t like…It seems to me…If you ask me…” the driving force of your conversations?

If so, then you probably need to “pluck out your ‘I’ and cast it far from you.”

By David Weaks