Stumbling Block or Stepping Stone?

The story is told of a girl who came to a preacher for advice on her upcoming wedding to a non-Christian boy. The preacher asked the girl to step up on a chair, and then up onto his desk. He said to the girl, “Now, pull me up to where you are.” She tried with all her strength and failed. The preacher, while still holding her hands, gave a slight tug and pulled her to the floor. He said to the girl, “It is more probable that this non-Christian boy will pull you down to his level than it is you will pull him up to yours.” This illustration can serve many purposes in life, while one is growing in the love of God’s grace.

Once while great violinist, Fritz Kreisler, had several hours to spend between trains, he visited a music store. He laid his violin case (which had his name on it) on the counter. The shopkeeper, seeing the name, thought that the violin had been stolen, so called the police. When the police arrived, they started to arrest Kreisler thinking he was a thief. Kreisler insisted that he was no thief but was indeed the real Fritz Kreisler. Finally, he asked the shopkeeper if he had one of Kreisler’s recordings. He did have, and the record was played. After the record finished playing, Kreisler opened the violin case, removed the instrument and played the same piece. Hearing the beautiful music, the storekeeper and the police knew that it was, indeed, the real Kreisler.

[1Peter 4:12-19] Kreisler’s performance proved his profession. Similarly, when you profess to be a Christian, do you prove it by your performance? It is not what we eat that makes us strong – it is what we digest. It is not what we earn that makes us rich – it is what we save. It is not what we read that makes us wise – but what we remember. And it is not what we say - but what we live, that makes us Christians. Yet oftentimes our Christianity is exhausted in mere profession. Christian living is that state of being in Christ and Christ being in us. We enter Christ by being baptized into Him (Galatians 3:27). We then are to walk in Him (Colossians 2:6-7). Christ abides in us. The apostle Paul testified, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Christian living is also like Christ-living, so that others may be able to see Christ living in us. We are to have the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:1-11). We are to follow His example (1Peter 2:21). By so doing, we will be changed into His image from glory to glory (2Corinthians 3:18). Truly, then, will others be able to see Christ in us. Such is Christian living. Nothing is more potent in building a better community or church than Christian living (1Peter 2:10 thru 4:11). And on the contrary, nothing is quite as detrimental to the cause of the Lord as a professed Christian not “living up to it”. In such cases, one becomes a stumbling block (Romans 14:11-13; Matthew 16:21-23). To each is given a set of tools, A shapeless mass and a book of rules; And each must build, ere life is flown, A stumbling block or a stepping stone. A blind man made it a practice to carry a lighted lantern with him everywhere he went. When someone asked him why he went around with a lighted lantern when he could not see and it did him no good, he replied, “To keep others from stumbling over me.” What a wonderful attitude! Let us, by our Christian living walk with the light of Christ (John 8:12), using it to guide others to God’s saving grace (Matthew 5:14-16) and be stepping stones from this world to glory – not stumbling blocks for an already lost soul. Those in Christ are the light of the world.