“If anyone causes one of these little ones
who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him
to be thrown into the sea
with a large millstone tied around his neck.”

Rosa Parks never intended to start a civil rights revolution. That is not why the black seamstress refused to give up her seat to a white man. She always insisted that her feet were tired and she just didn’t want to walk another step. Rosa never thought she was doing anything special. But she must have known that her refusal to move to the back of the bus would have consequences.

Perhaps we never intended to lead a child away from God because we were too tired to go to church, read the Bible, and saying your prayers. Likewise we must realize there are consequences for our children.

“If anyone causes one of these little ones
who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him
to be thrown into the sea
with a large millstone tied around his neck.”

When we think of people doing harm to children, chances are we think of adult predators, people who deal with the trafficking of children. We think of children who are abused mentally, physically and sexually.

While I don’t want to dismiss the absolute importance that we must stop the kinds of abuse and neglect of children we hear about in the news and we must stop the holocaust with regards to the thousands of children dying of AIDS and hunger. We must not think this is the only kind of abuse that is going on in America. Jesus is also firmly cautioning against harming little ones with regards to specific teaching and the examples we set for them.

“If anyone causes one of these little ones
who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him
to be thrown into the sea
with a large millstone tied around his neck.”

Perhaps you have heard the story of Jack Neal who briefly became the proud owner of a convertible car after he managed to buy it for $17,000 on the Internet despite being only three years old.

Jack's mother told the news she had left her password for the eBay auction site in her computer and her son used the 'buy it now' option to complete the purchase.  "Jack's a whiz on the PC and just pressed all the right buttons," Rachel Neal said.

I can laugh, but only because it's not my child! But it serves as a reminder to us all that children are constantly watching us and they will imitate us, even in ways we least expect. That can be a scary thought, but it can also be a powerful incentive for parents to live in such a way that imitation will result in godliness in their children.

For instance: Do I spend time reading God's Word and talking with Him each day? Do I look forward to fellowshipping with the Lord? What "fruit of the Spirit" is apparent in my life? Do I talk about Jesus with people who don't know Him? How am I using my spiritual gift or gifts? Do I have a generous and giving spirit? How much better do I know God today than I did a year ago? Do I revere and obey His Word?

The following kinds of abuse may not seem severe. They may not even sound like a form of abuse. Yet we can not underscore the fact they attribute to the trials and troubles of our youth.

We don’t want our children to go without so we focus our efforts in providing them with more. Unfortunately this means going without our time and love. We run our children from one activity to another making sure they get to do whatever they want unfortunately this means they don’t learn how to prioritize. We tell our children one thing and set a very different example. We teach our children the importance to say, I'm sorry when they hurt their sibling, yet file for a divorce because of irreconcilable differences. We want our children to decide about religion when they grow so we don’t teach our children anything about God. How do you decide about knowing?

What attitude, what behavior, what action is detrimental to building and strengthening your child’s belief and faith in God.

Jesus would say, CUT IT OUT! This is the point he is making in the remainder of Mark 9:42-50. He is not advocating maiming yourself. He is advocating the seriousness of sin, be it sins of commission or omission.

It does not stop with body parts. Sin involves attitudes, behaviors, activities, relationships.

Give up a relationship, a job, a habit that is against God’s will seem painful, but as Jesus said,

“Better for you to enter the kingdom of God
with one eye
than have two eyes and be thrown into hell.”

What is standing in the way of faith? What is Christ worth to you? You were worth his dying on the cross? He gave up His life for you, what are you willing to give up for Him either for your sake or your children’s?