Be careful so we do not stumble anyone

 22 Sep 25

Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Life Application Study Bible Devotion


Be careful so we do not stumble anyone

Both strong and weak Christians can cause their brothers and sisters to stumble. The strong but insensitive Christian may flaunt his or her freedom and intentionally offend others' consciences. The scrupulous but weak Christian may try to fence others in with petty rules and regulations, thus causing dissension. Paul wants his readers to be both strong in the faith and sensitive to others' needs. Because we are all strong in some areas and weak in others, we need constantly to monitor the effects of our behavior on others.


“Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.”Romans‬ ‭14‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

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Reflections

I think no matter how, whether we do or not do anything, we will affect the people around us, especially those that are closer to us. Our actions, behaviours and speech has a direct impact on the people we meet, our colleagues and also our friends. How we react also speaks of what kind of person we are, whether we truly care or whether we can’t be bothered about what happened to others.


The Lord has called us to be loving and to love our enemies. This is a high calling because anyone who has tried loving the enemy would find it really hard. It’s almost a mission impossible. However, with God’s love and grace, our soften hearts are able to love these not so lovable people. They may have sin against us, they may have killed our loved ones, they may have done things that deserved death or be imprisoned forever, etc. However, we should also remember that Jesus also told the murderer on the cross to join Him, so we too, as His disciples should learn to forgive and extend the helping hand to the others.


The world is not meant to be lived in silos. It is meant to be a community of people serving people, people loving people. And we should also continue to pray that whatever we do or say, would not cause our fellow brothers or sisters to stumble. We pray that all that we do or say is either uplifting or encouraging to them. 

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