In fifteen days, I will turn 20.
I’m the college student who sits in her dorm binge watching One Tree Hill and Grey's Anatomy while her friends take on the town.
And yes, I am obviously a Christian, and as much as that should be reason enough to skip out on the partying scene, apparently people need more of a reason.
But there isn’t. Jesus is, and will always be, a good enough reason.
But speaking of Jesus, in Matthew chapter 16, verse 23 Satan (the enemy, father of lies, the devil himself, etc.) comes to Jesus, through Peter.
Through Peter is important- hang onto that.
Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of man."
He approached my Jesus the same way he approaches me- boldly. But my Jesus speaks truth to me the same way he did to Peter- boldly.
Satan knew exactly who Jesus was and exactly what He stood for, and that applies to me too.
Satan knows my weaknesses, and he’s going to aim right where it hurts.
He knows I struggle with anxiety and hearing my friends talk about how “a
He knows I struggle with loneliness and being alone while all my friends are out and about, soaking up every second of every day.
But I know a few things too.
I know that NOTHING has an ease that needs to be removed that is greater than what Jesus did for me.
He literally died. Gave up everything. To take away every one of my eases.
1 Corinthians 8:9-13 paints an awesome picture for a believer. If being a Christian isn’t a good enough reason to avoid the partying scene, this is.
Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, won’t he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.
Stumbling block.
Through Peter.
Jesus was conversing with His disciples and telling them about how He had to go to Jerusalem and suffer- eventually leading to His death and resurrection. Peter speaks up and basically calls Jesus a fool for proclaiming His purpose. Jesus then describes Peter as a stumbling block, a hindrance, to Him.
Later on, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians of a person who has the knowledge of Salvation and still chooses to eat in an idol's temple- or to engage in worldly behavior. Paul explains that someone who has acknowledged Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, then makes a conscious decision to live like the world, becomes a stumbling block to those who don't yet know Christ.
There will always be people who will not understand why I refuse to spend my time looking for a false joy in the bottom of a bottle.
But, I refuse to see my family thrown into shambles because of a habit I picked up in college and couldn’t put down.
I refuse to allow my younger siblings to look at me and see a person who values a worldly passion over the presence of Christ.
I refuse to be a stumbling block- I will not be what Satan is to Jesus to my brothers and sisters in Christ.
And if that isn't a good enough reason, then there isn't one.
