You Can Do Anything You Like

The Apostle Paul said "All things are lawful." And its true. For the person who has given their life to Jesus Christ and freed from the bondage of sin everything is okay.

"Okay," you ask, "what's the catch?" Paul goes on in that verse (1 Corinthians 10:23) to say "but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up."

The "catch" is two fold. You can do anything as long as it brings glory to God (look at verse 31). In other words if you do something that reflects God's character then go for it! If you find yourself doing things that God wouldn't do then you need to look carefully at that thing and decide if a redeemed person should really do it.

The other "catch" is this: will your actions bring others closer to God or push them further away? That was what was going on in Corinth. The people were taking their freedom and flaunting it in front of people who had sacrificed meat to demon idols. This caused them to doubt whether Jesus was really God and got confused about the whole salvation thing.

Listen to what Paul says in 8:9 "But take care that this right of yours does not become a stumbling block to the weak."

Paul, and we, have a right to do anything that brings glory to God. All foods are given by God to be enjoyed, Paul says, and if we eat something or if we don't it won't affect whether we bring God glory - except if by eating we cause someone else to stumble in their faith. This can be applied to a lot of things.

Paul says in 9:19 "For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them."

Food for thought.

Pastor Tom