“And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell” Matthew 5:30 NIV

PTO — Power Take Off Unit — If you have ever been around a farm, farm machinery or just powerful machines — maybe you noticed that they all have one thing in common: The Power Take Off Unit or PTO. This is the part of the equipment that turns and gives the machine its power and strength. The average PTO shaft is said to turn at a speed of 9 rounds per second.

The story is told on a bright beautiful day when a farmer and his young grandson went for a ride on a tractor. The young grandson asked to ride on the fender of the tractor. The farmer and the grandson were very close and enjoyed days together in the fields.  After some time on the tractor working the field, the tractor hit a half-buried rock and the young boy fell off the fender and got his pant leg entangled in the PTO shaft.

The grandfather immediately shut off the tractor. The lad’s pants and leg were mangled by the sheer power and revolutions of the PTO and he was bleeding to death as the grandfather watched. They did not have a cell phone or radio back then and they were a good quarter of a mile from the nearest farm house. The grandfather had to make a decision, do I cut off part of the boys’ leg to free him or do I let him die?

With great love and agony he took out his pocket knife and cut the grandson lose from the thing that was ‘killing’ him. The boy survived and today is said to be a physician with an artificial leg.

God sometimes has to “cut us away” from the things that are “killing” us. He does not do this with anger or frustration but with pain, agony, and hopeful expectation.  We often look up at him and cry with pain as we are being freed and wonder what He is doing, all to no avail. He loves us and will do whatever it takes to “cut us free” from our addictions, anger or people bondage.

Prayer: Father thank you for cutting me free from any bondage in my life that is destroying my relationship with you. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!

by Bill Mantel