8/16/13

8/16/13

You say, "I am allowed to do anything" —but not everything is good for you. You say, "I am allowed to do anything"—but not everything is beneficial. Don't be concerned for your own good but for the good of others. So you may eat any meat that is sold in the marketplace without raising questions of conscience. For "the earth is the Lord 's, and everything in it." (1 Corinthians 10:23-26 NLT)

Here's the thing about this passage. People will use this passage all day long to support a healthy diet, not drinking, not cursing, etc. And there is nothing wrong with that idea, but that is not what I got out of this passage today. The thing that jumped out at me is this: "Don't be concerned for your own good but for the good of others." So, my point is that I don't think that Paul was concerned at all about the idea of SELF here. I think his whole point was that whatever we do, we need to be looking at how we are perceived. Some people are not going to care. They are just going to be who they are, no matter what other people think. But Paul said he became like the people that he hung around with, in order to reach some. If I think about this idea, I think it is kinda dangerous, but, if you can live within a certain crowd, and yet not be drawn into said crowd, it can be a very effective means of reaching people. We cannot reach people if we do not hang out with them. But we cannot be a go-along-with-the-crowd people, and not be seen as hypocrites. There is a fine line that we need to walk. That is what I think Paul's point is. We need to watch our backs to make sure we are not being perceived in a negative way. Watch out. Watch out!

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