I got stuck on this passage at the end of 1 Corinthians 10 the other day:
31 Whether, then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God; 33 just as I also please men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved.
Do I do that?
Of course, the other side of that same coin is that we are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. We preach. We live holy lives. Paul certainly offended some people.
But is that offense-in-the-name-of-truth the the exception, or the rule?
It’s so easy to tell myself that A is A and B is B, and if you don’t like it, too bad. Do I go out of my way to “please all men in all things,” and only shrug at inescapable offense when all else fails? Or do I just do what I’m going to do without considering other peoples’ responses, because I can support it with scripture.
Paul’s talking about eating food sacrificed to idols – something that mature believers, he says, don’t really have to worry about for their own sakes. If it’s going to bother someone else, though, forfeit your freedom in Christ for his sake.
I’m generally pretty quick to preach the freedom I have in Christ. I’m pretty quick to defend it, because,
I tell myself, I’m defending Christ’s sacrifice that paid for it. But am I?
Using PG-13 terms like, “suck” and “crap” are not sin. But if a parent of a student, or someone in our congregation where I minister, thinks it’s inappropriate, I should submit to that.
Our society makes all kinds of excuses, and all kinds of, “You can’t please all the people all the time” posters. Maybe that’s true, but is it a sad reality or an excuse to me? Paul seems to think I should try to please all the people all the time.