Do you have a favorite necklace? If you're a Fancy Nancy, your bling is likely adorned with diamonds and pearls. If you're more of a Basic Betty, like me, you might wear a simple silver cross or a gold pendant that you never take off. Whatever your jewelry inclination, there is one basalt beauty we're better off avoiding. It's called the millstone and its hundred pound weight and 18-inch diameter will drag us down...literally.
Of course the concept is silly. We would never willingly plop a hefty chunk of rock around our necks. However, many of us drape it over our shoulders every day and are none the wiser. To free ourselves from the millstone, we must know what it is and how to remove it.
This heavy rock, one of two used in biblical times to grind the flour needed to bake bread, was essential to sustaining daily life. Jesus weaved the familiar object into a lesson to help his disciples grasp the gravity--the serious weight and responsibility--of leading people rightly.
In Matthew 18:6, Jesus states:
But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Yikes. That is quite the word picture.
In present day vernacular we might say that it would be better for us to have our 2020 Honda minivans strapped to our backs and be thrown into the Gulf of Mexico than to mislead people with our own weak ideas about what it means to follow God. In other words, we want people to chase after God, who is perfect and holy, not us. After all, Jeremiah reminds us in 17:9 that our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately sick. We cannot be trusted to dream up a "Foolproof 12-Step Plan to Heaven". Heck, without help from my teen son, I can't even figure out how to watch Seinfeld (God bless those three remote controls!).
Choosing to go our own way is our prerogative. Directing others down that sketchy path? Jesus says doing so is an entirely new level of doomedness (I just made that up but it has a ring to it, don't ya think?).
How can we be sure that we're not leading folks astray and schlepping the millstone around on a daily basis? There is no replacement for reading the Holy Bible. It's the gift of God's truth laid out for us in 66 inspired books. Contrary to popular belief, there's only one interpretation--and infinite applications--for every verse. Read it every single day.
Apply it to your broken marriage, your joyless job, your chronic pain.
Follow God's teachings because, even without understanding how, obedience brings blessing.
Bring your questions to the Lord and get to know him more deeply.
Drop your own fractious will and submit to his perfect plan.
Scrap your pride and acknowledge our creator's kind authority over you and all the world.
Once we recognize our ailing heart issue and bow at the feet of Jesus, we can lead others down the narrow path with clear vision.
However, if we choose to be satisfied with our own misguided knowledge, we cannot forget to weigh the cost. Hell is a real place; easy to get to yet difficult to imagine. Jesus compared it to the Valley of Hinnom, a public rubbish pile in Jerusalem where dead bodies and trash burned.
But even hell is not gruesome enough for so-called "believers" who deceive others through false teaching and vain conceit. In addition to spending an eternity in hell separated from God, they will get the rock necklace of doom. If that doesn't cause us to shudder, perhaps it's time for some self-reflection.
Better yet, I think I'll go read my Bible.
Until next time,
Your Courage Cheerleader, Sarah 📣