Free, but acting in wisdom

Looking at it one way, you could say, “Anything goes. Because of God’s immense generosity and grace, we don’t have to dissect and scrutinize every action to see if it will pass muster.” But the point is not to just get by. We want to live well, but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well. (I Corinthians 10:23-24 MSG)

The argument in the church at Corinth was whether it was 'sinful' to eat the meat offered at the altars of pagan gods that was subsequently sold in the public marketplaces. The issue isn't whether the meat is 'tainted' as much as whether the action will cause one who is weaker in their faith to take issue with the practice. As much as we'd like to say there is nothing 'bad' with the meat and just eat it, the issue is much deeper - it goes to the 'heart'. The ones who had engaged in society at that time knew of the practice of idol worship and they had also listened to God's teachings indicating this practice to be wrong because there was only ONE God - the God they now served. The conflict was real - could they eat the meat and do it without a guilty conscience, or where they accepting the 'false god' by partaking of the meat? 

You see, the meat wasn't the real issue - no matter where it met the fire and was cooked, it was edible. The issue was that those just entering into a relationship with Jesus had come to believe the meat offered at the altars of other gods and idols was somehow 'affected' by where it was offered and to whom it was offered. Those who were just entering into the faith might have felt that when someone partook of that 'tainted meat', they partook of the 'practice' of offering meat to idols. It brought internal conflict of 'doing something bad' since they were no longer following the traditions and rituals of the region. They wanted to follow the one true God and didn't want any 'conflict' of conscience. As Paul shows them, it isn't the meat that matters - it is the one who is weaker in their faith that matters most!

We'd do well to keep this in mind whenever we want to criticize someone who is new in the faith struggling with something God says in his Word. The fact of the matter is that they haven't discovered those truths in quite the same way as we have and maybe they are struggling to let go of some doubts they may have brought into this relationship with Jesus much like we had to at some point. Those doubts are very real to them right now and we need to be positive role models who are looking out for their spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being at all times. If it gives them conflict - realize that it isn't because they don't want to believe - it could be they are just not there yet.

Our foremost efforts should always be to help others live well - no matter where they are on this faith journey. We might not remember the struggles of faith we had along the way, but they were there. We might know there is freedom the one who is struggling to make sense of their newfound faith hasn't quite realized yet. It doesn't give us license to judge them, lord it over them, or be critical of their lack of faith. It should make us delve deeper into understanding their struggle and then to take those things in prayer to God so he can work them out for them. We should be positive examples without 'flaunting our freedom', especially when there are those around us who have yet to realize the freedom God has prepared for them. Just sayin!