[Delmania]

It's a bit more than that. That particular passage was also about eliminating anything that got in the way of following god. I believe Jesus also said if your hand causes you to steal, cut it off. You could also argue that this is a passage about trust as getting rid of everything to follow a god requires a lot of faith that a god will survive.

For those of us who are atheists, the messages would be to not place things above people and to take risks in aiding others. Usually the things we fear never materialize.