Matthew 18:6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. (ESV)
This is a very graphic illustration. Although being words from Jesus, I know this is an area God does not take lightly. We all know a sin is a sin is a sin in Gods eyes, but I think often times we drown out the justice and righteousness of God with his mercy and grace. The old testament is full of Gods justice and wrath being poured out upon the disobedient. We see the cycle of fallen man, sin, repent and fall back into sin again and the cycle continues on, even to this day. But one things does remain throughout, is Gods justice. The Lords commandments are just and he is only looking out for our good. Often we think he is trying to take away from us, but really the creator of the universe knows what will keep us safe, what will keep us pure and what will rob us of our joy in him. So I take the commandments of God seriously, don’t get me wrong, daily I fall short. But his word is powerful to me. Every word of it has meaning and was given to us for a purpose. That through it we might find eternal life, we might know the answers to the big questions we hear so often in life.
Coming to the end of this section in Matthew 18, I know God has expressed his heart for the children in these scriptures. To sum it up with this verse I think only drives the point home. We see his wrath expressed, I would call it a righteous anger towards one who might cause a child to stumble. This is not rage, this is justice. And I believe if when we read a verse like this and let Gods grace overpower his justice then we have missed the point. We have grace because we are fallen, its in our nature to stray away, but we do not have grace so we can continue on in sin. When God speaks to us, through his word, warning us of sin, we should allow the verse to make us uncomfortable. Remember the bible is to be looked at in context of Genesis to Revelation. Often when this is stated its brought up that, yeah we have grace in Christ. Which amen to that because its true. But so often we forget the justice and wrath as well. It’s a balance that cant be overlooked any longer. Without it we are lacking in our image of the character of God.
We have become weak in our faith, relaxed in our devotions and mock the grace of God by our day to day actions. Its time to put things back into context. Let the weight of Gods wrath sink in for a moment before you let his grace take it away. Because once you experience a taste of what we truly deserve, his grace will take on a whole new meaning. This is when are changed from the inside out. When we recognize what we deserve, and because we are freed from it, we are then filled with a joy to serve God. To be sanctified, to be pure and to be holy, as he was holy.
Application:
I write this just as guilty as the next person who may be reading it. I am not saying that I have not fallen into this mindset myself. Today I will take sometime to meditate on Gods righteousness, justice and wrath through the old testament scriptures
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