Stumble part 1
I really want to talk about this idea for the next few days because I think it's important. If you've followed the Word Without Walls ministry for any length of time you probably know that I love pro wrestling. And that one of my favorites from back in the day was Mr. Perfect. He was so cool, man. Those videos of him doing everything... well... perfectly. Whether it was shooting pool, or diving into a pool, shooting hoops... the man threw a perfect spiral to himself. He was just perfect. Never messed up. Never made a mistake. And that's what the world thinks perfection is. That's what a lot of us strive for. We think weakness is a problem. We think making any kind of mistake is a failure. But I'm here to say, you can't learn from your mistakes if you never make any. You oftentimes have to do it wrong before you can do it right. That's called learning and growing. Perfection, Biblically speaking, means maturity. And I think the most mature thing you can do when you make a mistake is own up to it, learn from it, and move forward. Now watch this: "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him" (1 John 2:10). This, friends, is an entirely different way of looking at things. If we understand sin as unbelief, we can really get on board with a verse like 1 John 3:9, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." People are always like, "We're all just sinner!" And I think that has a lot to do with Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." But nobody seems to mention the next verse: "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." See, we WERE all sinners... before the cross. Then the cross happened. The point of Romans 3 is to show that change FROM sinner TO saint. To show us what the cross did. To bring us out of that sin consciousness mindset. So that we can stop struggling with sin. Again, if sin is unbelief... we were sinners (unbelievers) until the Lamb of God took away the sin of the world by giving us something (someONE, Himself, love) to believe in. And now that we know and believe, we cannot--by definition--unbelieve. A believer cannot unbelieve. That tracks, right? So when we're talking about stumbling... and we're saying, "Those who love cannot stumble," then stumbling must mean something other than messing up. It must means something other than making a mistake. In this context stumbling must mean... not loving. And that's the key. Because it's all about love. If you're doing what you're doing heartily--to the best of your ability and because it's in your heart to do it--you can't fail. Because love never fails. It might not always look like what you think it should look like, but it will always be what it's supposed to be. If you have your head held high and you're walking by faith, you don't have to worry about stumbling or falling. "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 1:24). God keeps us from falling. Love keeps us from falling. Perfection is loving as Jesus loves you. Receiving and releasing the love of God. There is nothing more perfect, or holy, or important than that!