Daily Devotional for March 29, 2021
Can Right Be Wrong?
“Mom, guess what happened at Bible club,” Carter said as he got into the car. “Henry trusted Jesus as his Savior!”
“That’s wonderful!” said Mom.
“Yeah,” said Carter. “His parents aren’t Christians. Maybe now he can help them come to Jesus too!”
A few weeks later, Carter came home from school annoyed. “At recess, Leo wanted to show us how to play a new card game he learned,” he told his mom. “When I asked Henry if he wanted to join us, he looked at me and said, ‘Carter, I thought you were a Christian!’ Then he walked away!”
Mom set Carter’s baby brother on the floor. “Carter, I think you should know that Henry’s dad has a gambling problem. I found out from Henry’s mom when we were volunteering together at school. Maybe Henry associates any type of card game with the pain and struggle his father’s gambling has caused their family. He may not understand that playing cards just for fun can be okay.” Mom looked at Carter. “Maybe you should give up playing cards at school for a while.”
“Give it up!” said Carter. “Why?”
Baby Luke, who had just learned to walk, toddled toward his toy box. Wobbling uncertainly, he tried to step over some building blocks in his path, then lost his balance and fell. Luke began crying and crawled to his mother for comfort.
As Mom soothed him, she said, “You know, Henry is kind of like your brother. Luke is a new walker and stumbled over those building blocks, and Henry is a baby Christian. He may not understand that playing cards can be separated from the bad things he associates with it. Right now, it’s what the Bible refers to as a stumbling block for him. If Henry sees you do something he believes is wrong, it might tempt him to do it too—and that might hurt him spiritually. Even though it’s not wrong to play a card game for fun, giving it up for a while can help you be a loving friend to Henry and encourage him in his faith.”
Carter hesitated. “Okay, I’ll stop playing cards since it bothers him.” He grinned as Luke wiggled to get down. “I don’t want to make him stumble in his walk with Jesus.” • Jan L. Hansen
How about you?
Have you ever been a stumbling block in someone’s faith? Sometimes it’s hard to know if people are just being picky when they criticize what you do—or if they’re being tempted to do something they believe is wrong. You may want to ask an adult to help you decide. Pray about it too. Ask Jesus to show you if you should give up something you think is okay to help someone in their walk with Him.
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