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Inspirational article from Joanne Lowe

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ARE YOU A STUMBLING BLOCK?

“For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.”

Romans 14: 11 – 13 King James Version

There are times when we are a stumblingblock to people and we aren’t even aware of it. The Bible tells us to keep our eyes on Jesus but being human we sometimes take off eyes off of Him and put them on people. They will fail us just as we will fail them because we are still in the flesh. I found out the hard way that nobody is perfect and that being a Christian does not make you perfect; it simply means that the atoning blood of Jesus has been applied to your heart and you are saved and belong to Him for all eternity.

When I was a new Christian and just beginning to learn about Jesus, there was a lady who was a choir director at the church I attended. She is a wonderful Christian lady and I really admired and respected her. I made the mistake of thinking that anything she did would be okay for me to do until she did something that led me astray because I had my eyes on her and not on Jesus.

One Wednesday night she wasn’t at prayer meeting and I was concerned she was ill so I called her the next day to see if she was okay. She told me “I stayed home from church so that I could see the Dallas Cowboys play”. She did that every Wednesday night for several weeks which meant that the choir didn’t get to rehearse so the choir didn’t sing on those Sundays.

I thought that since she was such a wonderful Christian lady and a leader in the church that if she stayed home on Wednesday nights it would be okay for me to stay home. God took me to the woodshed over that mistake and gently but firmly said that it was not okay for me to stay home just because she stayed home. That is the day that God impressed on my heart to take my eyes off of people and to always keep my eyes on Jesus because He would never lead me astray.

Many years ago when I lived in Oklahoma, the pastor announced from the pulpit that there would be no church the following Sunday so people could stay home and watch a game. He said “You won’t listen to what I preach anyway so you might as well stay home”. That really shook me up. That was the day that I realized that pastors are human and make mistakes just like anyone else. However, instead of criticizing and judging them we need to pray for them. In Psalm 105: 15 we read “Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.”

Are you a stumblingblock to your family, loved ones and friends by the things you say and the way you live your life? Do your words and actions draw people to Jesus or do they turn people away from Jesus? I have read and heard this many times “You may be the only Bible some people read”. Let’s be more aware of the things we are saying and doing so that we won’t offend somebody and most important of all, so we won’t offend Jesus and break His heart.

Joanne Lowe
February 22, 2007

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