A Tricky Act to Balance

Scripture:
"Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies." 1 Corinthians 8:1

Observation:
Roman and Greek society had many gods to worship and demons to fear. A central part of this worship included food sacrificed to idols. A person would sacrifice food to gain favor from a god or to remove evil spirits that were attached to it. The food was then prepared and served in pagan feasts. The leftovers were sold in the market place.

In the early church, this created a controversy. Those who had knowledge knew that there were no other gods and did not fear demonic forces. For them to eat food sacrificed idols meant nothing. It did not affect them at all. Those who were weak in their beliefs reacted in one of two ways. They either felt like eating the food defiled them and affected their standing with God or the eating of this food created a longing inside of them for their former life.

Application:
There are a few things in this passage that stick out to me this morning for application to my life. First, I must understand that if the actions of another person cause me confusion, concern, doubt or temptation; I am a weak person. My faith should be strong enough to stand on its own. There are times that I look around at how others are living their life to determine if I am on the right path. That is not fair to other people nor is it healthy to me. I need to live by my own convictions and allow people to live by theirs. This does not mean that we can't confront each other on our behaviors, but it does mean that when that happens each person should return to God's Word in prayer and allow Him to settle the issue.

The second thing that I notice here is that the Christian life requires a whole lot of love. My heart has to be broken for other people. It angers me when I am falsely judged by others. I mean it really ticks me off. But as I read this passage this morning, I notice something in Paul. The driving force in his life was his love for other people. He wanted them to know Jesus and his love compelled him to do whatever it took to point people in that direction. If this meant cutting out a sinless activity from his life in order to not cause confusion he did it.

Prayer:
Love for You and love for others is not the driving force in my life. The honest conviction I feel this morning is my own personal satisfaction and contentment is what motivates me the most. That is not as You intended it to be and I confess it to You this morning as sin. I also confess to You that I am helpless to change this. I beg this morning for You to move in my life and break my heart for the people in my life. Give me a burden to see those outside of Your grace come to know You and give me the strength to not be frustrated by the weaker Christians who judge me.

I often look too others to confirm the convictions that You have placed in my heart. This also is not as You have intended it to be and I confess it to You as a weakness in my life. I pray for wisdom to understand how to allow others to speak into my life, but to not allow them to become a god to me. I want to be humble enough to accept instruction, but I do not want my acceptance by You to be affected by the opinion of others.

Finding the balance in these things is a tricky act. It is one that I can't do on my own. I always seem to err on the extreme sides. I do not want the approval of man to have any affect on how I live my life. I also do not want to be come calloused to the affect my life has on others watching me. You alone are God in my life. I pray that You give me the love, patience knowledge, and wisdom I need to apply these things to my life.