Reflections on 1 Corinthians 10:32
“Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:32, NIV)
The Remedy puts it this way: do not knowingly act in ways that confuse others about God, or lead them astray, whether believers or non-believers.
Be open and caring toward everyone, regardless of who they are or how they affect your life. Every soul born into this world is a child of God and deserves to be treated with the wisest, most interested concern. No one is beneath your notice.
We cannot be aware of everyone we affect. The wave each choice creates travels far past our ability to follow it. Picture it this way: we are all living under water. Every movement, no matter how small, shifts the water around us. You cannot pass by anything without changing it in some way. You cannot even come close enough to notice another person without having an effect on them. Water carries every twitch, every slight change in us, out to everything around us. Nothing we do is of no consequence.
This is why Paul tells us to put no stumbling block in anyone’s way. We never know how far the ripple of a careless act will carry, or whose faith it may unsettle.
God created the water, and He sees all of its movement at once. He is with us in everything we do, yet He is not tied to physical reality as we are. He lives in eternity, but He chooses to participate in linear time with us. In eternity, past, present, and future are one before Him (Psalm 90:2). He can see everything without being pushed around by any of it, and when He chooses to act in time, He acts with perfect control.
We cannot do that. We affect each other on every level. So move carefully through your life, not with fear but with understanding, aware that what you think, say, and do reaches far beyond yourself. Live in the moment, aware of all that moment holds and all you can do to better your own life and the lives of everyone sharing it with you.
And never stop learning. Knowledge ennobles us, empowers us, and lifts us above the life we were born into. The more we understand, the better stewards we become of ourselves and of everyone our ripples touch. The more you know, the more you are.
