Throwing Stones

When I was a boy, I was in a children's bowling league called the Bantoms. This league had a league tournament at the end of the year, and then we would go to Hammond's Mill, a river about 20 miles away, for a year-end closing fun time. Wellllll. If you think having a rock fight to celebrate is fun, then for you it might have been fun. For me, it was an eye-opening event, and that is directly because of the rock fight event. Everything was good for me as I drilled a few people on the other team with some hits with my rock source, but then the whole thing changed. Why? Because the tree I was behind was a little smaller than my body, the other team could see me, and I didn't know that fact. I had seen a boy on their team begin to move to the left to try and flank me, and with a grin, I planned how I was going to stop his flanking move. I loaded up my hands with three very throwable rocks and stepped out from behind the tree. I was just about the "let fly", and it happened. I happened to glance up the hill as a rock was on the way to hit me "in the face." The next thing I remember is waking up to a group of kids whispering, "Is he dead?" "He looks dead!"

I didn't realize I had been "asleep" for about five minutes, and when my team saw me go down, they gave up. I got up and dizzily walked down to the river and washed the blood off my face, and that was the end of the day for me. Fun? Not for me! It was fun as long as I was hitting the other team with my stones, but when I got hit, I didn't like it anymore.

Peter writes the following in 1 Peter 2:1 So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. ² Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, ³ now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness. If you are throwing stones at others and it feels good, then realize there will be stones thrown at you before long, and it is gonna hurt. Throwing stones is not the behavior of a born-again believer. Jesus said something about judging others. Matthew 7: 1“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. ² For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

We love the judging when it is not about us. God is the judge, and we are not. So quit trying to be God and just be a follower of Jesus. W.W.J.D. (what would Jesus do) became a huge thing many years ago, and this one is easy. DO NOT JUDGE! By the way, it is not fruit picking because God is the one who picks the fruit from our lives. We can see if a person is living for Jesus or not, but that is as far as it goes. We have no right to judge, but to pray for them if they are living in sin. We should not respond to unholiness with more unholiness. Jesus went on to say in Matthew 7: ⁶ “Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.

Use the strength of your throwing for throwing the gospel wherever you go, and let it do the speaking for you. The effect of throwing the gospel has eternal benefits.

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David Warren