Let me describe my day to you. I came home from school at two thirty; I hadn't eaten since eight this morning, so I began to feast upon my mother's homemade sourdough bread. My buttered bread was heated in the microwave for just a bit, giving it a fresh out of the oven kind of texture and warmth. And then, rather suddenly, the Lord spoke to me.
It was rather unexpected. He told me to take off my hat (this to a guy who doesn't take off his hat). I've never made a habit of taking off my hat. At the church I used to be plugged into, I would wear it through a whole service. Why? To me, it was just a hat. It wasn't respectful to take it off; it wasn't disrespectful to leave it on; it was a hat.
But nevertheless my Diamondbacks baseball cap came off, and I was reminded of 1 Corinthians 8:1-13. In that passage, the specific issue is eating food that had been sacrificed to idols; in my life, the issue is wearing a baseball cap. I've never been one to offend people by wearing my baseball cap. Rather, around others I'll always take it off for prayer, or try to refrain from wearing it at a gathering for the sake of others.
Let me be honest. I didn't do it for the well-being of others; I did it because I was supposed to, because it could offend someone, to keep me out of trouble. What I failed to see then, what I still have trouble seeing sometimes, is that the point has nothing to do with me; it has everything to do with the other brother or sister in Christ. To some, wearing a hat in a church, or in the Lord's presence in prayer, shows disrespect. Why? Honestly, I don't know; but I would love to know the reasoning behind taking off one's hat.
But nevertheless, my mindset should never be about showcasing my freedom in Christ in trivial things. "But food (or a hat) does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge (that food does not make one better or worse to God) eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall." (1 Cor 8:8-13)
In other words... if you eat food that has been sacrificed to idols, and another eats it without first having the faith to do so, you sin against your brother/sister and against Christ. It does not matter if you had the freedom to or not; if your brother/sister is not acting out of faith, they are not being built up in the faith; rather, they are being destroyed.
Or, in the case of wearing a hat during prayer, if one doesn't take their hat off in faith that it does not disrespect the Lord, they are not acting in freedom; they are searing their conscience. They are acting contrary to what they believe is the right thing. After all, "... the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin." (Romans 14:23)
And this should be our mindset: "Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others." (1 Cor 10:24)
Likewise, "If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love." (Romans 14:15)
Oh that I would act in love more; that I would think of others more highly than myself; that I would be okay to lay down what I want to, or even what I am free to, all for the sake of love for another. That is the example of Christ of which Paul spoke of (1 Cor 11:1), that Christ laid aside all his heavenly glories and rights in order to do the will of the Father. Jesus sought not to do his own will, but to give His life as a ransom for many, so that they may be saved.
Can we do that? That's where the battle begins: dying to ourselves so that others may be edified and others may be saved.
2 comments:
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Well, well, welcome sir Justin to the world of blogging. Glad to see you involved. Regarding where the whole hat thing comes from it is 1 Corinthians 11 where a man is told to not cover his head when praying. Has to do with Christ being his covering and thus his not needing a covering when entering the presence. You may notice practicing Jews will still cover their heads in prayer for they do not accept that Christ was a fullfilment of anything other than being a prophet or teacher at best. Thus they still cover their heads. But believers need no such covering for they are covered by Christ himself. Some might consider my short response a bit trivial or less informed but it is good enough to give you a start.
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