"And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck."
Mark 9:42
You really want to make sure you are not encouraging others to engage in sin don't you. As a teacher, a reverend, you need to be careful that you always encourage others toward godliness.
You would want to make sure you don't explicitly or implicitly condone a clearly sinful lifestyle.
An alcoholic dribbles an "I can't help it" over your knee, you don't really want to pat him on the head and say, it's Ok. You want to pat him on the shoulder and say, "yes you can, God can help you, I will help you."
A wife-basher says "It's her fault for making me so angry." You really have to say, "Pull your head in before I report you to the police."
A person engaging in homosexual activity says, "I think I was born this way, can't you just accept me for who I am?" You really don't want to say, "Yes. I'm sorry I haven't been accepting and encouraging you as you are. Go and enjoy a life of sin, as long as you're happy, that's what matters to me."
Also, in the light of this verse
You would want to make sure your mental image of Jesus wasn't all soft and squashy, like your own plasticine idol, but actually was firm and solid and looked like the historical Jesus of the New Testament, a Jesus that showed love and mercy and remarkable spiritual insight and an abiding hatred of sin, hypocrisy and faithlessness.
That's what I would have thought.
Mark 9:42
You really want to make sure you are not encouraging others to engage in sin don't you. As a teacher, a reverend, you need to be careful that you always encourage others toward godliness.
You would want to make sure you don't explicitly or implicitly condone a clearly sinful lifestyle.
An alcoholic dribbles an "I can't help it" over your knee, you don't really want to pat him on the head and say, it's Ok. You want to pat him on the shoulder and say, "yes you can, God can help you, I will help you."
A wife-basher says "It's her fault for making me so angry." You really have to say, "Pull your head in before I report you to the police."
A person engaging in homosexual activity says, "I think I was born this way, can't you just accept me for who I am?" You really don't want to say, "Yes. I'm sorry I haven't been accepting and encouraging you as you are. Go and enjoy a life of sin, as long as you're happy, that's what matters to me."
Also, in the light of this verse
You would want to make sure your mental image of Jesus wasn't all soft and squashy, like your own plasticine idol, but actually was firm and solid and looked like the historical Jesus of the New Testament, a Jesus that showed love and mercy and remarkable spiritual insight and an abiding hatred of sin, hypocrisy and faithlessness.
That's what I would have thought.
No comments:
Post a Comment