August 13

Nehemiah 5:14-7:72

1 Corinthians 8

Psalm 33:1-11

Proverbs 21:8-10

Nehemiah 5:14-18

"For the entire twelve years that I was governor of Judah—from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of the reign of King Artaxerxes —neither I nor my officials drew on our official food allowance.  The former governors, in contrast, had laid heavy burdens on the people, demanding a daily ration of food and wine, besides forty pieces  of silver. Even their assistants took advantage of the people. But because I feared God, I did not act that way. I also devoted myself to working on the wall and refused to acquire any land. And I required all my servants to spend time working on the wall.  I asked for nothing, even though I regularly fed 150 Jewish officials at my table, besides all the visitors from other lands!  The provisions I paid for each day included one ox, six choice sheep or goats, and a large number of poultry. And every ten days we needed a large supply of all kinds of wine. Yet I refused to claim the governor's food allowance because the people already carried a heavy burden."

1 Corinthians 8:9-13

"But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble.  For if others see you—with your "superior knowledge"—eating in the temple of an idol, won't they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol?  So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer  for whom Christ died will be destroyed.  And when you sin against other believers  by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ.  So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don't want to cause another believer to stumble."

These passages have something in common. In the first one, Nehemiah goes without an official food allowance because he knows it would put a heavy burden on the people of Israel. In the second one, Paul instructed believers to be aware of their own behavior and if it negatively effected other believers.

I think both these passages are saying the same thing: Think about others before you think about yourself. Nehemiah went without food because it would hurt the other people in the city. Paul instructed the people of the Corinthian church not to cause weaker believers to stumble because of their actions (even though their actions are not sinful against God, it would still be wrong because it would be putting others in danger).

Jesus said that the most important command (behind loving God) is to love our neighbor as ourself. Sometimes loving other people means we have to go without. If everyone had this in mind, then no one would be in need and the whole community of believers would be supporting each other.