23 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. 24 No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.
25 Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, 26 for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”
27 If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. 28 But
if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do
not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake
of conscience. 29 I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience? 30 If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?
31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God — 33 even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.
There are so many "rules" in the Bible, but what I love about the verses today is the focus on freedom! Yes, there may be many boundaries God has established for our protection, and yet, sometimes as Christians, we can get so hung up on being good little rule-followers, that we overlook all the freedom and fun that God intended for us, even this side of Heaven. When we come to know the heart of God, we find that He is not only a protector, disciplinarian, and teacher (and all these things in love), but by looking at His creation all this week, I saw that He likes us to laugh (listened to a baby chuckle), He likes us to play (watched two bunnies in my neighborhood take turns chasing each other), and He likes to have fun (observed two squirrels play peek-a-boo in the tree in my backyard). God whispers to us in everything we see, and when we aren't always looking for the serious stuff, we just might remember that beauty, love, creativity and humor were all invented by God Himself.
In all of our decisions, our actions must be motivated by God's love for us and in us, so that all we do will be for His glory. We ask ourselves, "Is this bringing glory and honor to God?" or "How can I honor God through this action?" And sometimes we can also honor Him by relaxing, having some fun, or enjoying one of the many gifts He has given us on this earth. We can say that because of His immense generosity and grace to us, we don't have to scrutinize every miniscule action to see if it will pass the test -- make wise decisions, absolutely, but scrutinize, no. I want to live well and live for the Lord and other people.
It is with this context that we look at verse 23. “ 'I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive." Are we not in a culture where our rights are everything? I am so thankful for the rights and freedoms that we have in this country, and yes, we do have so many. But, we must examine whether any right or freedom we have is beneficial and constructive at any particular time. In everything, "No one should seek their own good, but the good of others" (verse 24). Sure, we have the right to free speech and to speak our opinions. But when our speech (or Facebook posting) is always with an agenda, no matter what our position, we push others away. Yes, we have the legal ability to drink when we are 21, but if we find that we cannot stop ourselves once we begin, we are not pursuing beneficial and constructive actions. In all things, how do your actions affect others? Think about who these choices affect and how they will affect them. We must not be so concerned with ourselves.
I have been very concerned with myself lately. I think, "Well how will this affect me? Look how this is making me feel? Well, I need to do this for me." I don't want to be that way. Just this weekend, the result of my self-focus was a self-consciousness that didn't allow me to enjoy my time with some dear friends as much as I could have, and the entire time my shoulders remained constantly up by my ears! This is such a good reminder to be others-focused. I need to put my rights, my feelings, and my desires aside, and be more concerned about His.
25 Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, 26 for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”
27 If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. 28 But
if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do
not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake
of conscience. 29 I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience? 30 If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?
Look at the freedom here. Let's make this a current day example. If an unbeliever invites you to have a drink with them in a bar after work and you want to go, you can go and have a drink without a bad conscience. For the earth is God's and everything in it! Everything belongs to him, even your glass of wine. But let's say another co-worker is coming with the two of you, and he has a problem with you having a drink, then do not have a drink for the sake of his conscience. Be okay to set your right aside so that he may have a clear conscience. But, if no one opposes, and if everything belongs to God, why not thank Him for it and enjoy it? (Let me be clear, however, that this is for matters not blatently objected in the Bible. For no reason may we "enjoy" someone who is not our spouse, etc.)
I love how The Message paraphrases the rest of this chapter:
29-30But, except for
these special cases (when food has been sacrificed to another god or if the Bible speaks elsewhere about it), I'm not going to walk around on eggshells worrying
about what small-minded people might say; I'm going to stride free and
easy, knowing what our large-minded Master has already said. If I eat
what is served to me, grateful to God for what is on the table, how can I
worry about what someone will say? I thanked God for it and he blessed
it!
31-33So eat
your meals heartily, not worrying about what others say about you—you're
eating to God's glory, after all, not to please them. As a matter of
fact, do everything that way, heartily and freely to God's glory. At the
same time, don't be callous in your exercise of freedom, thoughtlessly
stepping on the toes of those who aren't as free as you are. I try my
best to be considerate of everyone's feelings in all these matters, so that they might be saved; I
hope you will be, too.
I don't think I could have said it any better myself, Paul. I said it last week, but I will remind us again that God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment! (1 Tim. 6:17). He doesn't desire us to be uptight, check-list Christians. We do desire to have hearts that are holy, but with that, we should be full of joy, laughter, enjoyment and smiles (most days anyway). But all the while, we don't want our desires and freedoms to be as a stumbling block to those around us.
Because, at the end of the day, I don't want it to have been about me.
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