DO NOT CAUSE YOUR FELLOW MAN TO STUMBLE
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: Moenie jou medemens laat struikel nie
Translator: Robin Barker
Someone wrote to me the following:
“What happens when a person owns/runs a cigarette or liquor store?”
These businesses are just two kinds of many, many businesses; which I think should not be owned/run by a Christian, but I was asked about these two and I will limit my response to only these.
My answer to “What happens when a person owns/runs a cigarette or liquor store?” is very simple:
All that will happen will be one great tragedy upon another, of which the spiritual tragedy will be the greatest.
Let me explain this through the Word and let me begin with the people around you who are affected by the running of said business.
To begin with:
There is no doctor of which I know who will say to you that smoking is good for your health and now I am not even talking about the people who are disadvantaged (harmed) by the smoker.
Then you must also listen to the Holy Spirit within your heart, decide what are the chances that you can for one whole day, forget for a moment all the other days, which you are not going to sell drink to someone who is addicted to alcohol, or to someone who will abuse/misuse the alcohol.
Listen to the Word what it says about the smoker, but also remember what the smoker does to the people around him and also the alcoholic and misuser/abusers and remember then – currently you are part of the origin (starting point, source) of the horror that plays out right in front of our Lord’s eyes.
1 COR 3:17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
1 COR 6:19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
1 COR 6:20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.
Do you want to excuse yourself like Cain did in those times, by saying that you are not responsible for the person who is buying from you?
Well, listen to what the Word says, in other words, our Lord Himself instructs us, how you must behave/react:
PHI 2:4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
PHI 2:5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mind set as Christ Jesus:
Then there is also the example that I mentioned in my testimony, as a child of our Lord, to the people who know what I stand for, which also comes into play here.
1COR 8:10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge (standing behind the counter of a liquor shop), eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened (encouraged) to eat what is sacrificed to idols? (with peace of mind abuse/misuse drink and also smoke)
ROM14:20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food (for example alcohol or cigarettes). All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat (or in this instance sell) anything that causes someone else to stumble.
When I think about my testimony as a child of our Lord, and the fact –
2COR 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Wow!
If I think about all these things, the following Afrikaans saying comes to mind:
"Die kool is die sous net eenvoudig nie werd nie” – It is really not worth it
Rather I remember, try to live your life to the best of your abilities:
MATTHEW 5:14-16
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Therefore my friends –
ROM 6:13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
ROM 15:2 Each of us should please our neighbours for their good, to build them up. (Do not break them down from behind the counter of a liquor or cigarette shop, or possibly destroying them)
Greetings,
Sakkie