Don't Stumble

I have put off writing this week on my blog because I haven't been inspired. So, I was going to share a song I wrote back in college....when I often found myself being inspired....when I shouldn't have been.....in class! LOL, oh well. Then I realized I left my guitar notebook at church and wouldn't be back there again until Sunday, so maybe next week I'll share one I've written.

Today however, I finally have something worth sharing I hope. I am truly blessed to work in a Christian atmosphere to where usually everyday we will have a devotion/prayer time before we open the store. (For those of you who don't remember, I work at LifeWay Christian Bookstore on the campus of Union University) Each year we will pick out a devotional book from the sales floor to read from. This year we are reading from Steve Gaines' devotional book called Morning Manna.

Today's verse was Matthew 18:6, "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."

Wow. I mean, WOW! That is some intense stuff right there. We often don't realize what we do affects other people. One thing I have learned in dating Shaun and more specifically in dating a minister in the church is how in control you have to be of yourself. Self-control is a fruit of the spirit and it is crucial when you are in the lime light, so to speak. Growing up, I never had to be conscious of what I said and did because there weren't people in the church looking up to me and my actions. And now, I have to be overly intentional about everything I say and do. Well, what I didn't realize is that, even though they may not have been looking up to me in church, they were looking up to me everywhere else. At school, at work, at the grocery store....there are people watching my actions and making judgements based on that. People who know I am a Christian can very easily (and probably do) think that "oh, if Beth can do this and she is a Christian, then I can do that and it shouldn't be bad!"

Friends, you and I both have to be very aware of our actions so we won't be a stumbling block to our friends, aquaintances and the strangers around us! Because Jesus said it would be better for us to drown with a heavy necklace around our necks than to be stumbling blocks! Yikes!

Last food for thought. Let me challenge you in this....whether you are convicted about something you do or not....IF you do that something without personal conviction...think about how it might affect others...or cause them to stumble.