6 “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. 7 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! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
I love watching the History Channel…unless the subject is the Bible.
It never fails…the smartest theologians in the world are invited to explain how the bible just cannot be accurate.
I understand the temptation. When scripture seems nonsensical we begin to speculate. We “think” about more plausible explanations. We do it about a six day creation. We do it about a universal flood. We do it about the Israelites destroying the inhabitants of the Promised Land.
We do it about Jesus…the virgin birth and his divinity…and his atonement. We do it about the need to repent of our sinfulness and be born again.
Or honoring the Lord’s day…
Or divorce…
And…when we finally “think” ourselves into a comfortable understanding of scripture its often far removed from its original intent. How do we know our new understanding makes sense to God? We don’t.
That’s going to be a problem…
I’m not suggesting we be intellectually obtuse. The Bible has its thorny issues. However, our ability to discern depends on a lot of study, a lot of prayer and a concerted dependence on the Holy Spirit for illumination. If we leave one of these three disciplines out we run the risk of “thinking our way” to the truth.
Nobody has ever gotten there that way.
How often do we witness John the Baptist saying “I think”? How about the Apostle Paul? Exactly.
So, while Jesus is talking about these little ones (believers), he continues by telling the crowd to be very careful not to cause any one of them to stumble.
Actually…if we profess a doctrine that is not sound and it results in believers becoming confused about God’s demands in their lives…we would be better off if somebody threw us into the ocean with a rock tied to our necks.
Where does this temptation come from? Jesus alludes to it. He says “if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell”. In other words, if we limit our devotion to what we can see and understand we will fall far short.
It’s bad enough when we confuse ourselves. Jesus tells us it is inexcusable when we confuse others. So here’s the question: Is our doctrine based on what we “know” to be true? Or is it based on what we “think” is true? The Gospel of john tells us “these things are written that you might know.”
Live boldly out there today…
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