Stumble? Me?
Mark 9:2
But whoever causes one of these
little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for
him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.
I think we have probably said that
we would never cause a child to stumble.
That would just be so wrong. And
then, “stumbles” start to creep in and we don’t notice it at first.
Children get their values and
beliefs from what they see modeled at home.
They may forget what we say but they will most likely remember what they
see. What are our children or grandchildren
seeing?
1) The sign says children 12 and
under get in free. Our child is 13 –
what do we tell our child to say if they ask his/her age? Do we tell them to give a younger age? (cheat)
2)
We bring home a couple of pens or a pad from the office – did we pay for
them? (steal)
3) The phone rings – we say “tell
whoever it is that I am not home”. (lie)
4) The neighbor gets a really nice
expensive car – do we say or even think, “I would really love to have that
car”? (covet)
5)
When things don’t go right, do we use the name of Jesus to express our
frustration? (saying the Lord’s name in vain)
6)
Chances are none of us have murdered anyone – but what are our thoughts
when it comes to someone that we are angry with? (committing murder)
7)
We say that we are a Christian but then we dabble with palm readers,
horoscopes, Ouija boards “just for fun” to see what it says. (having idols)
Are we perfect? Nope.
Not yet. But we need to be
careful when it comes to living out what we preach. If our actions don’t line up with our words,
what do you think our children will remember?
What can we do?
1)
If the sign says children 12 and under get in free and our child is 13 –
we pay the admission fee.
2) We leave the pens and pads at work – we go to
Dollar Tree and buy a couple.
3)
If we don’t want to be interrupted by phone calls, we can put our phone
on “silent”.
4)
We can admire the neighbor’s car without coveting. Being thankful for the car that we have is a
great witness to our children.
5)
We can remember that Jesus is holy and so is His name.
6)
We can pray for those that have angered us.
7)
We need to look to Jesus only.
OK, so maybe we have stumbled a
bit. Confess it to God and He will forgive. It’s that easy! We can pray for help to change whatever our
behavior is that could cause a child to stumble. Children are important to Jesus and we have
His standards to help us guide and direct them on the right path. Even if our parents did not do that for us,
we can still do it or our children. The
buck stops here!
