Stumbling Blocks

"Thus sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble". 1 Corinthians 8:12-13

A friend of mine brought this verse to my attention earlier this week and I have been thinking and praying on it a lot since then. I have read this verse maybe a thousand times over the course of my life yet I don't think that I ever really got the gravity of what it is that Paul is saying here. Paul tells us that if we do something that causes a brother or sister in Christ to stumble, we are sinning against Christ. I guess in my pride and arrogance I always thought that if they had a problem with me doing something that I have every right to do, that is their problem. I don't think that I really understood that it is a sin against my Savior. This is just one part of it...

Later on in chapter 9, Paul talks about surrendering his rights. He talks about being free in Christ to do as he pleases (so long as he is not sinning himself) but choosing not to for the sake of advancing the Gospel. In verse 19 of chapter 9 he says "For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them." And later on in verse 22 he says "I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some." How selfish and prideful I am to not sacrifice (I use this term lightly because it is really no sacrifice at all...) something so meaningless for something that couldn't mean more. If my not participating in something that, having freedom in Christ I am at liberty to do, could win souls for the Kingdom, WHY WOULD I CONTINUE TO DO IT? It says a lot about where my heart is if I think that my desires for a moment mean more than someone's salvation. Now, I may not ever say that out loud but isn't that what I am saying by acting this way?

I know that there are things in my life that I can cut out and "sacrifice" for the advancement of the Gospel; what about you?

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called..." -Ephesians 4:1

Brothers and sisters, we should constantly be examining our own lives through the eyes of our Lord.

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children." -Ephesians 5:1