Stumbling Block part 4
When you understand the glorious truth behind Jude 1:24, "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," you will understand that you don't have to worry about any bumps in the road. You don't have to worry about any stumbling blocks. Because even if you DO lose sight of the fact--the truth--that everything is under our feet, you can still be comforted in knowing that even if you stumble... God can keep you from falling. He can reach out and hold you up. LOVE can reach out and hold you up. When you begin to depend solely and wholly on love to lead you, guide you, direct you, and protect you... that's when you're in the safest place you can be. And that's when you can live in a way that doesn't cause anybody else to stumble either. That's when you can truly begin to esteem others higher than yourself. Listen--if you're running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, trying to make sure that you have what you need (even at the expense of others)... that's no way to live. That's not life at all. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. And love is giving. You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. So if your motivation is getting... that's not love. Which means that not life. This idea that "whoever dies with the most toys wins" is not a good one. I'd rather focus on a life that doesn't end. A life of laying your life down for your friends. But you can't give what you don't have and you can only give what you do have. So you first have to have something. You have to receive before you can release. You have to let God love you before you can love Him back (by loving people). If you can't walk down the road without stumbling, it will be very hard for you to keep anybody else from stumbling. It's like when you're in an airplane and they tell you "If anything happens, put your own oxygen mask on first." You can't help anybody if you're passed out on the floor. You need to--and listen, there's a lot to be said about ministering out of your hurt. If you have a PHD in something (Personally Have Done it), you can relate to someone who is going through what you've gone through in a more intimate way. When you've been there, done that, and got the t-shirt you can help someone else through it in a way that maybe no one else can. So I'm not saying we shouldn't go through things. We HAVE to go through things. That's just part and parcel of life. Sometimes the hardest part of life is just living. But you go THROUGH it. You don't have to stumble and fall and get stuck. It came to pass, not to stay. So I guess what I'm trying to say today is, "If you're going through hell... keep on going." God has made the Way. It is straight and narrow. He brought every mountain low and every valley high. He is able to keep us from falling. And when He presents us faultless to Himself... others begin to see us that way too. When we see everything under our feet--so the weight and sin that so easily trips us up... can't trip us up anymore--that's when we can give a hand to our brothers and sisters. Raise them up above whatever it is that's trying to trip THEM up. We can help people, quite literally, get over it. Because we are over it. You don't overcome by thinking "If I try really hard I'll be able to overcome." We are overcomers because Jesus already overcame. It's a past tense deal. We are overcomers because, in Him, we have already overcome! And because we've already done it, we can help other people do it. We can receive it and release it! We can let what's inside of us--the love of God that's inside of us--come out. We can give what we've got. We can love... because we are loved!