Stumbling Blocks
Don’t cause your brother to stumble.
I used to think night lights were for children. But as I have gotten older, I have come to realize the importance that seeing in the dark is exceedingly necessary. No one likes to stub their toe on the furniture, or step on that plastic brick that somehow brings grown adults to their knees. Stumbling through the dark is not a hobby I intend to take up any time soon.
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I was reading in Romans 14 this morning and Paul is talking about why we should not be stumbling blocks for people.
Therefore let us not pass judgement on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. — Romans 14:13
This verse comes after Paul explains why we should not judge those who are weak in their faith. The stumbling blocks in question center around food and wine. That’s not something we usually think about today. No one blinks an eye when someone eats a bowl of ice-cream, but they will if you eat an entire pizza!
So what is the purpose for Paul’s thoughts on what we eat or drink? I think it lies in this previous verse,
For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. — Romans 14:7–9
Everything we do should honor the Lord. So the question is not about what we eat, but rather how we eat it. We should ask ourselves, “am I honoring the Lord with what I am doing right now?” One of those ways we honor the Lord is by not causing our brothers and sisters to stumble by what we eat and drink. We should show love to our faith family by showing them that everything we do, we do it for the glory of God.
It’s not a question about if someone is allowed to drink alcohol or the deep fried Oreo, but rather “am I glorifying God?” “Is it building up the body of Christ?” And we must make those decisions for ourselves because the Holy Spirit convicts us on different things.
I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing us unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. — Romans 14:14
We must be careful not to judge those who indulge in things that are still biblical but perhaps you think are unclean. We are still held under biblical moderation on certain things and we should never be a glutton. But we should glorify and honor God through our bodies and not cause others to stumble over things we have deemed clean to eat or drink. We should show love to one antoher as Christ has shown love to us.
