mark 9:42-49 :: causing to stumble

the penalty for pulling children off of God’s path is severe, and rightly so. who wants to be the person who robs innocense from a child? who wants to be the one who forever darkens their hearts? who wants to be the one who teaches a child to be deceptive, or how to steal? why would you ruin something that is so close to perfection? although they are still imbued with the sin nature, and prone to rebellion (i see it even in my daughter who won’t be 2 until october) why would you speed things along?  why?

these activities and choices are so heinous that if you seem prone to do them, you may just be better with a peg leg, a hook hand and a eye patch, if maiming yourself would keep you from destroying a child or causing someone else to stumble. you’d be better off being cast into the sea to await certain death rather than face the fire where “their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. Everyone will be salted with fire.”

living a life in God’s sight, in His Will leads us to understand why these things are so terrible. once you grasp the value of the human soul in the eyes of it’s creator, you dare not distract them from Him because you will understand what His wrath will be if you do…

people are precious, and the needs of another are always secondary to our own. we cannot be cavalier with someone’s eternal destination. if we have the opportunity to lead them to God’s purpose and Will, then that is exactly what we must do…not turning one way or another along the narrow path so we might stay on course with Him, and lead none astray.

Jesus isn’t trying to guilt us into legalistic behavior, but guard us from a discounting of our personal impression upon the life of another. we have no idea how much of an impact we will make on another person, or in what esteem we are held in their eyes. we cannot live in fear because of this, but we must take the charge seriously, to do what is right in God’s eyes rather than in man’s. if we are confident in Christ’s work in our lives, then we need not worry about our position. if we are sure of His work daily in our lives, and that we are listening to Him and acting out our lives in accordance to His example, then we can be sure that our example is sound and that those who follow along behind us are being shown a true example of discipleship.

if not, then we must consider how we conduct ourselves in public and in private and see if it matches up to God’s standards, and where we fall short, we must ask His forgiveness and for His help to fix things so we can be sure of our walk and example.