By Allen White
If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. Matthew 18:6-9
Think about who you encounter on a daily basis. Whether it’s the loud gabby women having an inane conversation in your once quiet corner of the coffee shop or the desperate man with the cardboard sign on the freeway off-ramp, there are people you would rather not trade places with. The same goes for church.
While there are people like us at church, there are certainly people who are not like us at all. Some of them talk too much. Some of them lack self-awareness. Some of them are mean. Some of them are doormats. Boy, we’re glad we’re not like that.
If we were honest, there would probably be a few fellow believers we’d prefer not to run into very often. I’m not sure how we’re going to manage eternity in Heaven with them though.
Jesus spoke in rather harsh terms about discouraging “these little ones,” i.e. fellow believers. In fact, He recommends certain amputations or mutilations would be superior to causing any one of them to stumble. That just seems so drastic.
Jesus has a perspective that we lack. He knows that when it’s all said and done, we would rather lose a body part than cause a fellow believer to become discouraged. One day, it would become one of our greatest regrets.
The world is a tough enough place without believers being tough on each other. While we should always spur one another on to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24), there is a line between spurring and being a jerk about it.
God values you just as much as the guy who tells you the same story every time you see him. You are just as significant to God as the woman who keeps making the same mistake over and over again. When God looks at His children, He values every one of us. Whether you’re the one who has done everything wrong or the one who can’t admit to doing wrong, God loves each of us.
Who in the Body of Christ irritates you? How much do you know about them? Have you heard their story? As you increase your understanding of them, your patience for them will also increase. Seek out that difficult person and get to know them a little better. Oh, and don’t be surprised if someone also seeks you out.
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