NO CAUSE FOR STUMBLING

The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

(1 John 2:10 – NAS)

John wants to make it very clear that love is the key to living in the Light. So he says it repeatedly through several formulations. Each time, he touches on some variant perspective. He does not want to leave any crack unlit and unexplored.

Previously, he had addressed the matter of those who claim to follow the Lord or to love their brother or to abide in the Light. But now he speaks of those who actually do love their brothers, their fellow-believers. After all, they do exist. We may carry hidden resentments and angers toward others, but that does not mean that love is impossible. We do also manage to love at least a few people.

So... “the one who loves his brother abides in the Light.”

Isn’t that a good thing to know?

Yes, Jesus called us to love all others, even our enemies. That is a true challenge to our natures, and a very difficult thing to achieve. And it is certainly what we should be striving for.

But John, for the moment, brings us this more immediate and seemingly simpler task. “Love your brother, your sibling in Christ.” How hard is that?

We tend to make it harder than it ought to be. We fall into dividing the Body by criteria other than being followers of Christ. We start separating ourselves with all sorts of barriers: how scripture is interpreted, what type of music is performed in worship, how the worship service is conducted, which translation of the Bible is used, which congregational structure our communities operate under. We are ready to separate ourselves from other lovers of Jesus on the basis of far too many reasons.

We let those distinctions cause us to go stumbling about. We as individuals stumble over them. But we also let our own divisions cause others to stumble. We witness to new believers that we personally think the style of worship is more important than loving our brothers. Or maybe the type of music used. Or the scriptural translation relied upon. We do a poor job of letting our lives testify that it is love which is most important in the Body of Christ.

So, once again, John reminds us that it is in loving our fellows that causes us to abide in Light.

Wouldn’t we all rather live in the Light? Do we really want darkness around us as we try to live our lives according to Jesus’ teachings?

But that’s not the end of it with John. It’s not just that if we love our siblings in Christ we shall live in the Light. It is also that in doing so, we will not stumble. Or as he puts it, there is no cause for stumbling.

Why does he put it that way?

I think it is because he is talking about something more than just keeping our own feet from tripping up. That is, of course a good thing. Nobody likes tripping over their own feet. But I think John is going beyond that. I think he means also that when we live in the Light, we also do not trip up others.

When we love other people, we want them to stay upright as well. We don’t really want to see those we love tripping up all around us. We reach out and help those we love.

We never think of the possibility that we might be a cause for the stumbling of others, especially not those we care about. And yet, that possibility does exist.

How can that be? In what way can we cause others to stumble?

One of the most obvious ways that can occur in the community of Christ is when two people who are friends, but who are married to others, become romantically involved with each other. It is so easy to make excuses for the breaking of fidelity when powerful emotions and desires are involved. Do we even think of this as causing another to stumble? It is love after all, right? But what of the others around the erring couple? Anger on the part of the betrayed spouse, discomfort and distress for the family and friends of both parties, all these negative emotions pushing several people into stumbling.

There are other ways in which we can cause others to stumble.

When a fellow believer who has looked toward us for spiritual leadership sees us behaving in a less than ideal way, might that person not feel excused about similar behavior in their own life? “My mentor does this, so maybe it’s not such a bad thing after all.” It is easy enough for us to disavow responsibility for other people’s choices. We ought to be conscious of the power that love for our fellow believers has, whether we are the giver or the receiver. Do we think to warn our friends? Do we actually say, “Don’t do this. It’s my besetting sin, and I should be handling it better. It isn’t justified.” Isn’t that what a loving sibling ought to do? Shouldn’t we warn our sister or brother that there are times they should not follow in our footsteps?

The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

We do not travel alone, in our lives as believers in Jesus. We travel with our loved ones, our siblings in the Lord. We need the Light so that we can see where we are going. And we need to make sure that we ourselves do not stumble, nor cause others to stumble because we have taken a misstep. Our love for those around us causes us to help each other stay upright, without stumbling.

Let us remember to love each other, and so help keep each other from stumbling.