Friday after the Seventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on July 23, 2021 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 17:1-2 (NKJV)
17:1 Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.
Devotion
Sometimes, because this world is all that we have seen, we need a reminder of how fallen and degenerate it is. Our verses for today testify to this–it is only because of sin and the fallen state of the world that “offenses” will come. They were not part of God’s original plan for us when He created the world and called it good; but Man fell and they are with us now.
These offenses are traps for our lives and faith. If, for example, we see someone who should know better do something he should not be doing, and then we do the same thing, now that person has imperiled both his own faith and the faith of someone else!
Death by drowning is supposed to be particularly unpleasant, but here Jesus says that it would be far better for those who cause offense to Jesus’ “little ones” to die this way than to face God’s judgment for bringing the kind of offense that causes problems for the faith of others.
May we always be found faithful in doctrine and life, and be good examples in thought, word, and deed for all who look to us as examples! God’s Word will strengthen us to this end, according to his promises.
Prayer: O God, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and on earth, we humbly beseech Thee to put away from us all hurtful things and to give us those things which be profitable for us; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
