Matthew 18:1-35
Dear RTB’ers,
Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! (v. 7) This verse got my attention because of how I read it in my NASB translation, where “stumbling blocks” was used instead of temptations: Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to the person through whom the stumbling block comes! And I wondered if I had ever been a stumbling block to anyone? Some of my college professors (one in particular) had been stumbling blocks to me – made me wonder if I had been a serious problem for any of my students along the way?
But then I take that a step further and wonder about the positive and negative impacts any one of us might have had on anyone around us. What sort of example do we set? Carol and I are traveling this week and the next. It’s interesting to watch people at the airport, where you can often see people at their highest levels of anxiety. What is the example that they are setting for their children and others around them? Or drivers on the road, weaving in and out of traffic, who absolutely must get ahead of that next car? Or me, in everything that I do? Am I that humble person that Jesus is seeking? Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (v. 4) No, I am not. …unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (v. 3b) I’ve got a lot to work on.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Blessings!
Fred