24Mar16

Matthew 18:6
"If anyone causes one of these little ones--those who believe in me--to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."

Jesus was always really fond of children, the brokenhearted, and the outcast. What he was always upset with was legalism and "religion" that restricted people from encountering God. Multiple times Jesus encounters those that would put a gate in the way of people coming to him and spending time with him and in every instance Jesus smashes it down with a vengeance. He wants it to be easy for people to have a relationship with God in a very personal way and gets upset when people try to get in the way of that. He lays out a warning in this passage to anyone who would try to put rules and restrictions on those who would come to him. This is a warning and an encouragement to us today. God wants us to come to Him as we are and will break down opposition to that cause. What are you allowing to stand in the way of your personal faith? Are you using an obstacle to justify not being close to God? Are you making it difficult to know God or for others to know God by placing obstacles in their ways?

As we approach the Easter holiday more people will attend church services than at any other time in the year. It is the Christian's highest holiday. Are you going to go and encounter God on that day? Are you going to reach out and have that personal relationship or are you just fulfilling some kind of self-imposed obligation? Are you standing in the way of someone being able to celebrate by making them dress a certain way, or be a certain way, or stop a certain activity, or maybe even physically making it impossible for them to be there? Let's join together and be a light to the world not a closed gate with a bouncer.