SEPTEMBER 2 "THINKING OF OTHERS"

   We have really digressed from Paul's admonition here to "live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us and no one will find fault with our ministry".  Today, starting at the top with Pastors and working our way down, we have totally let this scripture fall by the waste side and our famous line "nobody is perfect, get off my case". Paul admits he's not perfect in Philippians, Paul never claims to be perfect. Being perfect is not the issue. It's about thinking before you act, thinking before "you tweet" thinking before you speak, thinking before you "post". It's about THINKING, thinking of others, thinking of how your actions will cause others to stumble, even though you may receive forgiveness from God....what about the collateral damage? What do you do about that....answer is nothing! Today we have preachers unleashing tirades of profanity on the blogosphere, we have Pastor's divorcing their wives and marrying some hotsy, totsy from the worship team, we have numerous infidelity, numerous cases of financial infidelity. The results, many stumble, many fall, they claim "I'm forgiven, I serve a God of Grace" and they are up and functioning again, if not in their own church then in another church down the road. If you're looking for that extra strength to overcome, try this...."think of others and how they will stumble because of your selfish actions".  Think of this, "yes I can be forgiven, but how do I reconcile what Jesus said "woe unto those that causes one of these little ones to stumble". It's really quite simple when you apply Paul's philosophy of the Christian life (of course echoed by Jesus) "live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us and no will find fault with our ministry". Is this a hard task? Yes! Is it an impossible task? Absolutely not!

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