Psalm 26:3 English Standard Version (ESV) For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.

Psalm 101:6 English Standard Version (ESV) I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me.

When in Vietnam we had an ambush set up go horribly wrong. It happens. Most of us had been there for a long time and we were conditioned, experienced, and had conquered our fears. I was assigned rear guard, it was my job to see that no one was left behind.

A newbie, fresh off the plane, was on his first night ambush and with everything going wrong his fear level was really high. As we were running through the wet muddy rice paddies he was being outpaced by everyone else until it came time for me to see to it he wasn’t left behind. I helped him get unstuck.

His gratitude was to believe I had saved his life. I had not. I was just helping a weak man that had not gotten conditioned to the elements.

That is what this is all about, getting unstuck. We walk by faith and some of us have been doing it for a long time and to a newbie it looks like we are saving them. We are not. We are here to help the newbies get acclimated in walking by faith.

We walk in His faithfulness not our own. Jesus leads us in faithfulness but to the new babes in Christ it doesn’t look that way. They will come to know Jesus and experience all that He does in us. Until then it is our job to help them when they are stuck in the muck.

Matthew 18:6 English Standard Version (ESV) but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,^{[cause to stumble]} it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

I added the footnotes to the word sin from the source quoted. Stumbles can be something less that an overt sin but should still be avoided. When we know of dangers we want to cry out to be careful and leave it up to the hearer to heed our warning.

What if we have stumbled in our studies and do not know it? It is likely we will lead others along that same treacherous path without seeing the danger. This is why discussion groups are excellent opportunities to test your understanding of God’s word.

We must not allow ourselves to stay silent in fear of being wrong. If we are wrong it is best to correct the error than to suffer in silence. Even those of us that have studied the words for decades can and do make mistakes. None of us are perfect. We can even be right and be wrong in how we express ourselves. Communication skills are not all equal.

Being blunt can often lead to others tuning out anything that we might offer. A scalpel may cut deep but the sledgehammer does more damage.

James has warned us in chapter 3 of his letter that the tongue can do great harm. So can the written word. The written word cannot convey facial expressions and body language. We humans communicate in ways that are more complicated than just words. I heed what James said in his opening line in chapter 3.

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” ESV

You are not my students, just my readers.