The Limits of Our Liberty

“Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him. Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.” 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

The Mississippi River begins as a tiny trickle of fresh water in northern Minnesota and sweeps down through the American plains as one of the largest rivers on earth. Running 2,470 miles to the Gulf of Mexico, it surges with industry, supplies drinking water to many communities, and serves as the watershed for middle America. Its powerful currents are constrained by an elongated levee system that keeps the river within its banks, making it a productive channel of commerce. If the river had no banks, it would be useless.

The fruitful Christian is likewise one whose life knows certain restraints. Although we are freed from the enslaving power of sin and death, we live within certain God-given limits. Our limits are placed by God to deepen our spiritual life, not to suppress it. Biblical injunctions or circumstances that hem us in are placed there by God to cut deep channels for the life-giving flow of the Holy Spirit.

Don’t look at the commands of Scriptures in a confining context but as spiritual levees God can use to make your life productive. The commands of Scripture are not negotiable. Don’t fight them but accept them as God’s wise boundaries that keep you out of harm’s way and make you a conduit of blessing to others.

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you...” Colossians 3:16