Offenses

Have you ever stumbled and fallen? Most likely you have. When I was a child and in a hurry, I would sometimes stub my toe against a rock or the root of a tree and fall on my face. When we are old, it is a serious concern that we will stumble over something in our path and fall and break an arm or a hip. Stumbling can lead to falling and can be very serious. Stumbling and falling in a spiritual sense can also be very serious. We can cause someone else to fall by our words and actions. The word is offense. Jesus said in Matthew 18:7,

Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

Sometimes we may misuse the word offense. We might say "That offends me", meaning that we don't like what someone says or does. But their action is likely not going to make us stumble and fall. The biblical meaning of the word offense [spelled "offence" in the KJV] is to cause to stumble, to sin and to fall. You can then see how serious it is to offend another Christian. Jesus was speaking of little children when He said in Matthew 18:6,

But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

There are several ways that you might offend another Christian and cause him to sin and fall. One way is to encourage someone to participate in your sin. Maybe you encourage him to lie about where you have been or what you have done. Or maybe you ask him to participate in stealing and taking what is not his from a neighbor or a business.

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Ed Anderson
Sierra Vista, AZ

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