Today's Reading:O.T. - Ruth 3 - 4
N.T. - 1 Corinthians 8
Focus Verses: 1 Cor.8:1-2;9-12
1Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. ---- 9Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? 11So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
Insight:
What a person knows, understands, and believes has a direct relationship with what that person can or cannot do with a clear conscience. Some Christians who have a clearer knowledge and understanding of truth may have freedoms that others do not have. They must not, however, exercise that freedom with a disregard toward those (Christian or not) with less understanding and less freedom. A knowledge that results in carelessness toward others is not wise or Christ-like. Real knowledge is always more concerned with the interests of others than with the exercise of personal freedoms.
Response and Action:
I need to pursue truth and wisdom. The more I know the truth, the more the truth will set me free. My freedoms must always be lived out with reverence for Christ and concern for others. Knowledge becomes arrogance if it is blind to the interests of others. Freedom becomes sin if it hurts or destroys others.
Lord God, Help me to grow in knowledge and understanding. I want to live in the freedom that comes from a knowledge and understanding of truth. At the same time, Lord, I want to live the truth in love. Give me a sensitivity and awareness of the needs and views of others who may not fully understand what is true and/or may not have the same freedoms. Give me a love and concern for them that tempers and guides my actions and the exercise my freedoms. Amen.
Proverbs: 20:3
“It is to a man's honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.”
Resources:
Revolution of Character: Discovering Christ's Pattern for Spiritual Transformation
by Dallas Willard and Don Simpson
