Day 2167 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Romans 14:13 NIV

Yesterday's verse talked about how we need to be finding ways to work together even though we're all different. Sadly our society is going the opposite way for the most part. We're letting too many things get in our way that prevent us from working to make things better for everyone. Too many stumbling blocks!

That's an idea that I personally think about quite often. Causing others to stumble by my actions. Everyone is dealing with something that we may not know anything about. Everyone is trying to make improvements in their lives. Who am I to do or say something that would keep them from that? It's like you have this friend who's trying to get healthier and you show up with a couple dozen donuts and a car full of junk food. Not really helping is it?

We're all here to be helpful. We're here to do good things that God created us to do in this place. We're supposed to be loving others the way that Christ so selflessly loves us. We're supposed to be doing things that make our world better or at least help point to something better. But like I said, we're allowing too many things to keep us from doing that.

All of these opinions, all of this judgement, all of these attitudes are nothing but stumbling blocks that halt any forward progress. The way I see it there's already plenty of things to work on and fix in our world. We really don't need to be making things worse for everyone by being rude, judgmental, and lacking compassion.

I really do believe that we can make things better. I do believe that if we all work together then there's nothing we can't fix. I do believe that Christ is with us and ready to help us heal our land and lead us to a brighter day. But we have to be willing to put things aside that cause us to stumble. We need to leave the pride, arrogance, selfishness, and hatred behind if we're ever going to make any progress toward a better life for everyone.

So as this verse asks us, let's make up our minds to not put any stumbling blocks in the way. No more hate-fueled opinions or rash judgements. No more putting ourselves first and only worrying about what we think is right. If we choose compassion and humility then there's no end to the ground we can gain toward a better future. We just need to stop tripping ourselves up in the process by letting foolish things get in the way.