Are You A Stumbling Block? Or a Starting Block?

Today I speak to the Repairers & Restorers out there—(and you know who you are) selfless Souls without whom the very wheels of Disability Ministry would slam to a screeching halt.

So let me ask you:  Are You A Stumbling Block?  Or a Starting Block?

Jesus spoke of stumbling blocks in Matthew 18:6-7 NASU

6  but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Stumbling Blocks

7 “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!

When He speaks of ”little ones” we generally assume that He means literally little children.  But based on a commentary by Matthew Henry I’d like to expand that definition to include “figuratively;  true but weak believers are these little ones, who in their outward condition, or the frame of their spirits, are like little children, the lambs of Christ’s flock.”[i]

Gee sounds like a lot of the type of people we minister to and through, doesn’t it?

But let’s get back to the Stumbling Block shall we?  Because I’m not talking about someone who deceives or tricks someone into sin like the serpent in Genesis.  I’m talking about something far more subtle yet perhaps even more sinister:  i.e., when a Believer actively facilitates the sin of someone else.

Crazy talk?  Follow along with me as we go to a “shining example” (pun intended) in the Book of Exodus:

Exodus 32:1-3 NASU

The Golden Calf

32 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”

Wait a minute!  Did you catch that? Only one verse before God just got finished inscribing The Ten Commandments with His own hand on tablets of stone!  But when the people get a little bored waiting on Moses (you know, the guy that led them out of Egypt) they make an OUTRAGEOUS demand! And  Aaron, the older brother of Moses, the “mouthpiece” and “prophet” of Moses, folds like a cheap Bedouin tent!

So what’s the Point?  Simply this:  when you facilitate a “little one” to sin—however innocent or well-meaning– you are working against God Himself!  I beseech you Brethren: Don’t Do It!

OK Millstone Bling aside… I want to leave you with this from Colossians: ‘cause   I’m not nearly as interested in Compelling you NOT to be a Stumbling Block as I am in PROPELLING you to be a Starting Block for His Glory.

Colossians 3:23-24 NASU

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,  knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

Lord, grant us wisdom to judge whether or not we are a Stumbling Block for a fellow Believer and if so grant us the courage to help redirect our behavior instead to refocus our efforts towards becoming a Starting Block of Godly discipleship in the future.  Amen!

In His Accessible Grace,

Linda

[[i] Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, PC Study Bible Formatted Electronic Database Copyright © 2006 by Biblesoft

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