“Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the man by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. Matthew 18:7–9 (RSV)
This passage is the test of how one reads Scripture. I have yet to find a sect of Christianity that follows what Jesus says to the letter. If any should, there would be all manner of believers hobbling around, half-blind, with only one hand.
We do not do these things, for we know that it is not our hands, feet, or eyes that choose sin on their own. Whatever wickedness these may do has its genesis in our hearts.
Jesus bids us to the far more challenging task of taking up our cross and following Him. Compared to putting our old self to death day by day is a far more challenging matter than lopping off a hand or foot.
Jesus reminds us that it is from within that all manner of evil and sin come. He also reminds us through St. Paul that if we give all we have, even to the sacrifice of our lives, if we do not have the love of Christ within us, it is a vain effort.
Jesus calls us to become a new creation by faith in His death and resurrection. As we put our old nature to death and are raised a new one by the grace of the Holy Spirit, not only can we face temptations, but we are truly made whole.