Stumbling Block

I’m sitting with a friend of mine one night casually talking amidst a large crowd of people. We were discussing everything from football to sunrises. Suddenly the talk turned to religion and the exact words from his mouth were “You know I don’t get Christians. They say all of these things and you know look over there those two girls are the drunkest two at this party. They are no different than I am.” Unknowingly to those to individuals, they had become a stumbling block in the life of my friend.

In the book of Romans God offers gives us some advice Romans 14:21 “It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.” You know I like what my friend tweeted on this subject matter when she tweeted “ So being a Christian, yeah sometimes you have to give up what you love the most in order to obey Christ and in order to keep others from stumbling. “ You see Christ is telling us here that we are not to do anything that will come in between another individual and Christ. Instead, we should be paving the way to Christ. What exactly is a stumbling block? It’s any action, word, deed, activity, attitude, or image that a Christian does that repels or trips individuals up who are on their way to God. A person can stumble by hearing the way we talk, the jokes we make, the attitudes we have, the things we drink, the things we do. You see anytime we are not whole heartedly seeking God we run the risk of being a stumbling block to others.

You might say well God is asking me to give up things that I really love, things that define me, things that make me who I am. Well I’m here to tell your friend that Jesus gave it all for us. He nailed his life on the Cross for you and for me. He loved us enough to give away the thing that kept alive, his life in order that we could have eternal life. You see he being infinite suffered in a finite period of time what we being finite should have suffered in an infinite period of time. He loved us enough to do this for us and if we have accepted Him we are His, we have been redeemed, and we are called to love Matthew 27: 37-39 “Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” You see because we love God, we love people. And in order to Love people we must mold ourselves after God. He gave up His life in order that WE COULD BE SAVED, therefore we are to give up the things in our lives that do not bring him Glory, that cause or could cause others to stumble in order that others MIGHT BE SAVED. To keep our witness in check. You see nobody wants to told about Christ by someone who they see living in a way that contradicts what they are saying. They will not listen when they are stumbling. Do you want to cause someone to stumble, to keep them from coming to Christ? I certainly don’t.  You know the word states this “Greater love has no one that this, that to lay down one’s life for his friends,” John 15:13. God has laid down his life for us, His friends. Are we willing to lay down the things in our lives that cause our friends to stumble?