It's worse than losing. When you lose, at least you finished you tried. But "Giving up"! That's not even making it to the end. But what if giving up could lead to winning?
Well sure, people give up smoking, give drinking, and give up drugs. In that case "Giving up" means ridding yourself of negative characteristics. But what about giving up good things? I don't mean just giving up things that are not bad, like one less piece of chocolate a day. But giving up GOOD THINGS.
Jesus gave a list of things we should be willing to give up, a hand, a foot, an eye. Those aren't just good things those are important things. Things we need. But what if they are keeping you from putting your full faith in the Lord?
We trust our hands to work for us. We trust our feet to carry us. We trust our eyes to help us learn. These are the small, insidious things we do that aren't bad, but that we grow to trust in.
And when we put our faith in the small things we do instead of Christ we stumble. Here are three truths about stumbling:
- Stumbling hurts
- Stumbling hinders
- Stumbling humbles
Trusting in the things that we have convinced ourselves are important will lead us to falter. When we falter in faith, we fall into sin, and finally we fail to please God.
