A Solemn Warning

Jesus issues a solemn warning to all believers when He says that drowning with a heavy millstone hung around one’s neck would be a better outcome than the judgment that will befall the person that causes one of the “little ones” to stumble (Matthew 18:5, 6).

It is clear from the Matthean context that we are all “little ones”. Paul picks up this theme when he warns the Corinthian believers that they not offend a weaker believer by the proud liberty they exercise when it comes to matters of conscience (1 Corinthians 8:9-13). And so we take up the debate of what exactly those matters of conscience might be; the social drink, the casual gambling, or the questionable entertainment. However, if a misuse of one’s liberty in matters of conscience causes us to run the risk of harming another and thereby reap the horrific judgment of God, how much greater our sin that causes others to fall? What about our infidelity? Our lust? Our coarse jesting? Our insatiable carnal appetite that controls us and not only renders us spiritually impotent may cause others to lose faith and will ultimately earn us the judgment of God that makes helpless drowning pale in comparison.

Prayer: God, give us clean hands, pure hearts, and pleasing thoughts in your sight, and a renewed awareness of the hollow nature of temporal pleasure in comparison to eternity.