To sin or to tempt?
September 20, 2009
The life of Jesus. Read Today: Parable about the lost sheep; Matthew 18:12-14
Matthew 18:14 ISV
(14) In the same way, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost."
This verse picks up from where we left off yesterday. As you remember, Jesus promised a punishment for those who cause another to be tempted. Now we have the parable of the Lost sheep. I never tied the two together before but it is so like our Father in heaven to do things this way. Causing others to stumble is bad. But Jesus does not say that he chases after the one who causes the temptation, but the one tempted. He will try to nudge them along so gently to get them back to Him. The one who caused the temptation in the first place is left to their own devices.
So we ask ourselves a serious question. Is it worse to sin, or to be what causes others to sin?
Read for next time: Instructions on church discipline; Matthew 18:15-20
