Don’t Cause Trouble
By Alex Proimos from Sydney, Australia (The Concern Uploaded by russavia) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons
1 Corinthians 10:23-33 (CEV)
Always Honor God
23 Some of you say, “We can do whatever we want to!” But I tell you that not everything may be good or helpful. 24 We should think about others and not about ourselves.25 However, when you buy meat in the market, go ahead and eat it. Keep your conscience clear by not asking where the meat came from. 26 The Scriptures say, “The earth and everything in it belong to the Lord.”
27 If an unbeliever invites you to dinner, and you want to go, then go. Eat whatever you are served. Don’t cause a problem for someone’s conscience by asking where the food came from. 28-29 But if you are told that it has been sacrificed to idols, don’t cause a problem by eating it. I don’t mean a problem for yourself, but for the one who told you. Why should my freedom be limited by someone else’s conscience? 30 If I give thanks for what I eat, why should anyone accuse me of doing wrong?
31 When you eat or drink or do anything else, always do it to honor God. 32 Don’t cause problems for Jews or Greeks or anyone else who belongs to God’s church. 33 I always try to please others instead of myself, in the hope that many of them will be saved.
Today’s smack between the eyeballs verse is v32,
Don’t cause problems for Jews or Greeks or anyone else who belongs to God’s church.
Which ties together the whole chapter.
Don’t cause problems for others, or as the Good News Version puts it
Live in such a way as to cause no trouble either to Jews or Gentiles or to the church of God
That is quite a responsibility.
When I’m sharing opinions, living my way, ploughing my own furrow, am I causing trouble to others or just doing what I want? Doing what is good and helpful? Or just making trouble?
Lord,
May I cause no trouble,
but
help others to live
your way,
and seek the good of all.
Forgive me the times
when I have caused others to turn away,
despair,
lose hope,
or sight of you.
May I seek
always to honour you.
Thanks to Richard Gillin for this photo from St Albans 🙂
Pam's Perambulation 