Daily Devotional for July 31, 2017
No Throwing Stones
“Mom!” called Owen when he arrived home from school one day. “You know that new church they’re building a couple blocks away? What a mess!”
“What do you mean?” asked Mom. “What happened?”
“I went past there on my way home from school, and there’s stained glass all over the ground,” said Owen, holding out a piece of colored glass. “One of the workers let me take this. He told me somebody threw rocks and smashed the windows during the night.” Owen frowned. “Who would do something like that? Whoever they are, they’re definitely not a Christian!”
“Now wait just a minute,” said Mom. “It’s wrong for someone to vandalize a church building like that, but you can’t judge whether someone’s a Christian based on their behavior. We all sin, even Christians. In fact, I once did the same thing those vandals did.”
Owen stared at his mom in disbelief. “You threw stones at churches?”
“Not church buildings,” said Mom. “But I vandalized something even more important—God’s temple. The Bible says that the bodies of those who trust in Jesus are temples of the Holy Spirit—God lives inside us! But when I was younger, I treated my own body the same way those vandals treated those stained-glass windows by abusing drugs and alcohol, even though I was a Christian. Doing that not only hurt my body and mind but also kept me from reflecting Jesus.”
Reaching out, Mom took the piece of stained glass from Owen’s hand and turned it over in the sunlight. “See how pretty this looks when it reflects the light of the sun?” she asked. Owen nodded. “Well, as Christians we should reflect the light of God’s Son so others can see how much Jesus loves them, but we can’t do that very well if we’re messing up our bodies by abusing things like alcohol and drugs.”
Owen studied the piece of glass as it glimmered in the sunlight. He knew kids at school who drank and used drugs, and sometimes he was tempted to join them. I’m going to put this piece of glass in my locker at school, he thought. It will be a good reminder not to throw stones at God’s temple by harming my body. – Marguerite M. Keiffer
How about you?
Have you ever been tempted to try something that would harm your body? Things like illegal drugs and underage drinking can cause a lot of damage to both your body and your mind, and they can also keep the light of Jesus from reflecting in your life. Remember that He paid the price of your sin so you could belong to Him. Say no to things that hurt your body so you can use it to bring glory to Him.
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