“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!” (Matthew 18:6-7)
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about what Jesus had to say about children and what we could learn from them as His followers. As we read the eighteenth chapter of the gospel of Matthew, we read how after Jesus challenges us to be more like children as we walk with Him, He goes on to make one of the most frightening, bone-chilling statements of his ministry.
He says, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!” (Matthew 18:6-7).
Throughout His entire ministry, Jesus never gave a plainer, or more powerful warning than this one. He is talking about believers and even people who would want to become believers. They may not come to Jesus ever or maybe they do, but somewhere along the way they ran into sin or believed false teaching or gave in to spiritually doubt. And Jesus is saying that we should never be the reason that someone chooses to turn away from following Jesus. We shouldn’t be the cause of someone stumbling in their faith.
I want to remind you that nothing makes Jesus angrier than doing anything to either keep people from coming to Jesus or trying to lead people away from Jesus. Therefore we must remain mindful that what we say, how we live, and how we treat others is always being observed. People are watching how we represent Christ. So may we live in a way that points others to Jesus, rather than in a way that pushes them away from Him.
Dear Lord, I want to set a godly example with my life so that others want to know you better. I pray that you would help me to live in a way that doesn’t cause people to stumble, but rather leads them closer to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Topics: Influence
