Guided By His Word

Matt 18:7-14

"Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to sin 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 sin, 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.

"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.



"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.
NIV





Jesus warned the disciples about two ways to cause “little ones” to sin: tempting them (Matthew 18:7-9) and neglecting or demeaning them (Matthew 18:10-14). As leaders, we are to help young people or new believers avoid anything or anyone that could cause them to stumble in their faith and lead them to sin. We must never take lightly the spiritual education and protection of the young in age and in the faith.

We must remove stumbling blocks that cause us to sin. This does not mean to cut off a part of the body; it means that any person, program, or teaching in the church that threatens the spiritual growth of the body must be removed. For the individual, any relationship, practice, or activity that leads to sin should be stopped. Jesus says it would be better to go to heaven with one hand than to hell with both. Sin, of course, affects more than our hands; it affects our minds and hearts.

To often we are lulled into a false sense of security, we just go and do what we have always gone and done. We need to stay connected to Gods word in order to make sure that we are not off track in any way. The Bible is the plumb line in which we are to live our lives.

Ephes. 5:1 (NLT) says;
Follow God's example in everything you do, because you are his dear children.

I can tell you that it is impossible to do with out searching the scriptures and seeking God Himself. We will never be perfect, not until we are with Jesus, and until that time We will always have sin in our lives, there is no avoiding that. But what are we doing to shine a light on that sin, expose it and release it to the only One who can take it from us. Jesus is the Light of the world, shining down into the darkness and He wants to set us free from all of the bondage that holds us down.

Release it to Him today, get a fresh start, and begin to cut those things out of your life that are keeping you in that bondage.