“And, ‘A stone that causes people to stumble and a
rock that makes them fall.’ They stumble
because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined
for.” 1 Peter 2:8
I
think we can all agree on one proven fact about hitting your toe on a
rock: IT HURTS! I have yet to hit my toe on any object and
think to myself, “Hmm, I just hit that with my toe. Oh well.”
NOT HARDLY!!! It’s more of seeing
stars, feeling a splitting pain in your entire foot, not to mention resisting
the sudden urge to blurt out profanity.
You wind up with a throbbing feeling and convinced that every little
bone it that toe has been shattered.
Here’s
a good example of having extreme lack of finesse. How many of you have attempted to walk
through a room in your house, at night, without the lights on? Did a certain piece of furniture manage to
find your very sensitive toe? Anyone
that hasn’t had that experience just hasn’t lived! Why did it happen? Because, you walked through the house in
total darkness! Why do you think?
Tripping
over something isn’t any better. First,
you have the afore mentioned experience of excruciating pain in your toe or
foot, added to whatever bumps, scrapes, or bruises that occur when you fall to
the ground. Amidst the pain, we look
around and see if anyone witnessed our sincere lack of grace. It’s the sort of feeling that makes you want
to crawl back in bed, throw the covers over your head, and pretend the day
never happened. Anyone have those
days? Who am I kidding? Of course, you have! We all have!
As
one that loves to venture into unsteady terrain, it is IMPERRATIVE for me to
pay attention to the terrain and to ensure that I am walking properly. If I’m dragging my feet, I’m going to be
eating the ground, there’s just no way around it. While I love to look around while I am
trekking up hills, down steep slopes, or navigating through a very rocky path;
I give much of my attention to the ground.
I would rather view it while I am still on my feet, instead of seeing it
from a distance of two inches, after falling on my face.
These
two cases teach us one important lesson:
PAY ATTENTION! The words of
Peter, along with other writers in the New Testament, clearly tells us that if
we are walking in the light, seeing where we are going and paying attention to
the path we are walking, then we will not stumble. (See John 11:9, 2 Peter 1:10, Romans 9:32-33)
Does this mean that we will never stumble?
No. We will still have those
moments in our lives when we figuratively stump our toe or go crashing to the
ground. Afterwards, we pick ourselves
up, dust ourselves off, bandage the wounds, and continue on. We become more focused on our surroundings
and the trips and stumbles become fewer and fewer.
May
you go through today minding the rocks that lie in the path before you. 😊
No comments:
Post a Comment