Mark 9:42-50
Causing to Stumble
42 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. [44] 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. [46] 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where
“‘the worms that eat them do not die,
and the fire is not quenched.’
49 Everyone will be salted with fire.
50 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”
We often think our doubts in our belief and faith, cause us to drift away from God and cause us to sin...Jesus teaches us that there are other (and maybe many) things that cause us to sin and stumble...We must become aware of the things in our lives that cause us to be an obstacle for us that keeps us from our Father...Many of the Pharisees, who followed Jesus around, it seems never understood this...Jesus lists things that might cause us to stumble...
Jesus wants us to know that what our bodies and minds can keep us from getting closer to God...We have desires and wants, we have pleasures, and even our search for our happiness can keep us from God...He wants us to understand our bodies, our minds, our thoughts, our habits, our work, our families, money, and different things can keep us from finding and getting closer to God...Jesus wants us to remedy any condition in the body, mind, and in our thoughts that keeps us from God...To follow Jesus, we have to remove those things, within ourselves, that keep us from getting close to Him...To get closer to God and remedy this situation we must look within...We must go beyond our bodies and our minds...
We must often go even beyond our feelings, if they keep us from the Father and Son...After all feeling are only feelings, but God is Supreme...We are made up of bodies, minds, and thoughts...Let us follow Him, to enhance our lives...He tells us we are like salt, and salt is only salt...Salt can be good and useful...Salt can make food more flavorful and more tasteful...Our faith is good and can be made better when we are at peace with others...Let us follow Him and His teachings...If we drift away from Him, lose and forget Him, then we are like salt that has lost its saltiness...We must be on guard for the obstacles...We must reach out for Him in life and through the pages of Scripture...
One of the hardest teachings to understand that Jesus said is, what if we do not even realize we have sinned...This is a huge obstacle...For this very reason, (this is why) we must study His teachings...When He told the Pharisees that He did not come for them, He came for sinners they may not have cared...But we must care...Since you (the Pharisees) do not think you have sinned, I did not come for you...We cannot be forgiven, if we do not think we have sinned or done anything wrong like the Pharisees...This was a huge obstacle for them...For Jesus and God to forgive us, we have to realize that we have sinned and are a sinner...For Jesus life and death on the cross to have meaning, we have to realize that He died for my sins, and not necessarily yours or other people's sins...Let us study His teachings, and then look at our lives, and find the obstacles that keep us from Him and bring those obstacles down...