And that you may be untainted and pure and unerring and blameless [so that with hearts sincere and certain and unsullied, you may approach] the day of Christ [not stumbling nor causing others to stumble].
Philippians 1:10b AMPC
We were walking on a sidewalk one day, and I stumbled. My foot slipped off the sidewalk. It didn’t pop or come out of joint or anything, but I felt a slight discomfort. As the day went on, it hurt worse and worse. But when I woke up the next day it felt fine. Then that night it was excruciatingly painful. The next morning, fine. The next night, painful.
This went on for five weeks until I finally went to the doctor where an x-ray revealed it was broken. I wasn’t allowed to put any weight on it for six weeks, which caused a lot of extra work and pressure for my family, all from a little misstep off a sidewalk.
Stumble. To trip or momentarily lose one’s balance or even to fall. It can be embarrassing and even painful to stumble. And at times when we stumble, we bump into someone else, causing them to lose their balance.
Yesterday we prayed for God’s love to come to its fullest development in our hearts. When you love someone, you don’t want to do anything to displease them. And it keeps you in a place where you weigh everything you do by how it is going to impact the person you love. That is fully developed and mature love.
When your love is mature, you can walk pure. Untainted. Unerring. Blameless. That sounds impossible to me. I mess up a lot more than I care to admit. I’m far from perfect. But we need to remember something. It’s not perfection God is after. It’s sincerity. He’s searching for hearts that chase maturity in Christ over pleasing the flesh.
We are going to miss it from time to time. But the more we walk in His love, the more like Him we will become and the less we will walk in our old ways. We will be less likely to stumble and knock someone else out of balance with us. And that’s how I want to live, don’t you?
Let’s pray together.
Father, today we pray for Your Church in the city of Warren to continue to develop in Your love so that they live from a place of sure footing instead of stumbling from day to day. Hold them steady and upright in Your love and strength. We pray that their hearts will be sincere, desiring to walk blameless before You. Help them judge every action by how it will affect You and those around them. In Jesus’ Name, amen.