1 Corinthians 10:23 Amplified All things are legitimate [permissible--and we are free to do anything we please], but not all things are helpful (expedient, profitable, and wholesome). All things are legitimate, but not all things are constructive [to character] and edifying [to spiritual life].
This morning as I was getting ready to start my day when a Yahoo news caption caught my eye. Kanye West grabs mic from Taylor Swift. Curious I decided to see what all the fuss was about and as I watched the video that was posted online. I was shocked to find out that Kanye West had grabbed the mic away from Taylor Swift while accepting a VMA award. He simply jumped on stage to let everyone know that he thought Beyonce had a better video. Taylor Swift stood there not knowing what to do. The audience booed Kanye the rest of the night. Though Kanye did nothing illegal it was incredibly rude and hateful to Taylor Swift.
There is a trend that I am seeing more and more in our country and it is this: Let's use our freedom to do what we want regardless of who it hurts or offends. The constitutional freedoms that our forefathers worked so hard to afford us and our military has worked so hard to defend have been used as an excuse to be hurtful to others. Unfortunately, many people use the freedom of speech as an excuse to use hateful, prejudicial, sensual and rude. They use language with no regard to who they are offending. Jesus was clear though in Matthew 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
Reason #1 Not all things are profitable: It makes our spirits weak when we indulge our flesh.
This is not limited to the secular media but also to the church. For we have used the grace of God and our freedom from sin as an excuse to live a self indulgent lifestyle. A far cry from the disciplined lifestyle that Jesus and his disciples lived. "To be a forerunner in the last days you must live a fasted and prayerful lifestyle. "I once got in a discussion with a "Christian" online on why they should not be befriending women online who were half clothed and who clearly where there to lure men to their porn sites. He claimed that he was ministering to these women and I had no right to judge them. I told him that children were also on myspace and could see all that was on his myspace profile. Matthew 18:6 "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." I will agree that there is no law against being on myspace but is your time online and the places you are going are they building your spirit. While it may be permissable to watch TV is it something that is going to edify our spiritual life. Is what you watch a stumbling block to your children? Do you watch rated R movies in front of your children? Is your conversations with others clearly depict you as a child of God? Or do people hear you curse, gossip and tear others down? Do you meditate on violent games and violent movies. You say it doesn't affect you but you carelessly do it front of others that maybe are trying to overcome a gang lifestyle. I know for me that too much TV makes me weak. What's your kryptonite? More importantly, do you know what makes others spiritually weak?
Reason #2 Not all things are permissible: If you violate the conscience of others you violate the higher law of love. 1Corinthians 10:24Let no one then seek his own good and advantage and profit, but [rather] each one of the other [let him seek the welfare of his neighbor].
An ongoing dilemma in the church is that of drinking. I hear people say that they only drink a glass of wine with dinner. If that's true that may be permissible but...if you are drinking every night and can't go to sleep without it or your prescriptions now it falls under bondage. See whatever we can't go without has already mastered us. If you can't fast TV, media, food or go without something then it has you. More importantly if you are drinking in front of someone who used to have a drinking problem then you have just become a stumbling block to that person. If you are playing the lottery in front of someone who had a serious gambling problem then you need to reconsider your spiritual freedom. (I personally believe that if we invested our money into the kingdom and followed God's spiritual principles on money we would prosper regardless of the economy.) I consider eating a big fat juicy piece of bacon in front of a Jew rude. It's like eating a piece of cake in front of someone who is struggling with their weight and dieting. I have let people know when something offends my conscience and you would be surprised how often the response is one of defensive pride. Bottom line if you are parading your freedom in front of others with no regard as to how it hurts their conscience then you are in sin. Anything that violates the love of God is sin.
Reason #3 Not all things are wholesome: Not everything is good for us.
Ah, the western culture. We are among the sickest most unhealthiest groups of people on the earth. We have taken the scripture about Peter having the vision of eating what was unclean and ran with it. We have made it to mean that we can eat anything and we will be ok. Just this week we said good bye to a friend who lost to a long time battle with her weight. Her heart and lungs filled with fluid until she couldn't breathe no more. I'm sure that in the beginning she saw no harm with the little dainties and delicacies she was eating until it became too late. Unfortunately many of us will see Jesus sooner than later because we have refused to take care of the body he gave us. Ouch! That hurt me more than it hurt you. We think we can eat a stack of pancakes, pork sausage, hashbrowns all smothered in gravy and stay healthy. Jesus didn't eat pork. If God truly lifted all the food restrictions in the Old Testament then why did Jesus continue to eat fish and bread. I don't know if you noticed this but Jesus did eat a lot of seafood. He did a lot of walking and fasted quite often. Food related diseases like diabetes are at on all time high. If you think you can drink beer with your cake and be around for a long time then you need a check up from the neck up. We can't live a self indulgent lifestyle and live long. Don't let me get started on those fattening Starbucks coffees with donuts. How about all the fast food? Just remember fast food, fast death. Though we have the freedom to eat what we want let's not use that freedom to cut our destiny short here on earth. I don't want to hear Jesus say "Why are you here so soon? I had things for you to do still and I had to find someone else to finish your work." I want to hear, "Well done good and faithful servant." We can't ignore the obvious. Whatever we sow, we reap. This a spiritual principle that even affects our health. See it may be lawful for you to eat everything but not everything is wholesome.
This morning as I was getting ready to start my day when a Yahoo news caption caught my eye. Kanye West grabs mic from Taylor Swift. Curious I decided to see what all the fuss was about and as I watched the video that was posted online. I was shocked to find out that Kanye West had grabbed the mic away from Taylor Swift while accepting a VMA award. He simply jumped on stage to let everyone know that he thought Beyonce had a better video. Taylor Swift stood there not knowing what to do. The audience booed Kanye the rest of the night. Though Kanye did nothing illegal it was incredibly rude and hateful to Taylor Swift.There is a trend that I am seeing more and more in our country and it is this: Let's use our freedom to do what we want regardless of who it hurts or offends. The constitutional freedoms that our forefathers worked so hard to afford us and our military has worked so hard to defend have been used as an excuse to be hurtful to others. Unfortunately, many people use the freedom of speech as an excuse to use hateful, prejudicial, sensual and rude. They use language with no regard to who they are offending. Jesus was clear though in Matthew 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
Reason #1 Not all things are profitable: It makes our spirits weak when we indulge our flesh.
This is not limited to the secular media but also to the church. For we have used the grace of God and our freedom from sin as an excuse to live a self indulgent lifestyle. A far cry from the disciplined lifestyle that Jesus and his disciples lived. "To be a forerunner in the last days you must live a fasted and prayerful lifestyle. "I once got in a discussion with a "Christian" online on why they should not be befriending women online who were half clothed and who clearly where there to lure men to their porn sites. He claimed that he was ministering to these women and I had no right to judge them. I told him that children were also on myspace and could see all that was on his myspace profile. Matthew 18:6 "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." I will agree that there is no law against being on myspace but is your time online and the places you are going are they building your spirit. While it may be permissable to watch TV is it something that is going to edify our spiritual life. Is what you watch a stumbling block to your children? Do you watch rated R movies in front of your children? Is your conversations with others clearly depict you as a child of God? Or do people hear you curse, gossip and tear others down? Do you meditate on violent games and violent movies. You say it doesn't affect you but you carelessly do it front of others that maybe are trying to overcome a gang lifestyle. I know for me that too much TV makes me weak. What's your kryptonite? More importantly, do you know what makes others spiritually weak?
Reason #2 Not all things are permissible: If you violate the conscience of others you violate the higher law of love. 1Corinthians 10:24Let no one then seek his own good and advantage and profit, but [rather] each one of the other [let him seek the welfare of his neighbor].
An ongoing dilemma in the church is that of drinking. I hear people say that they only drink a glass of wine with dinner. If that's true that may be permissible but...if you are drinking every night and can't go to sleep without it or your prescriptions now it falls under bondage. See whatever we can't go without has already mastered us. If you can't fast TV, media, food or go without something then it has you. More importantly if you are drinking in front of someone who used to have a drinking problem then you have just become a stumbling block to that person. If you are playing the lottery in front of someone who had a serious gambling problem then you need to reconsider your spiritual freedom. (I personally believe that if we invested our money into the kingdom and followed God's spiritual principles on money we would prosper regardless of the economy.) I consider eating a big fat juicy piece of bacon in front of a Jew rude. It's like eating a piece of cake in front of someone who is struggling with their weight and dieting. I have let people know when something offends my conscience and you would be surprised how often the response is one of defensive pride. Bottom line if you are parading your freedom in front of others with no regard as to how it hurts their conscience then you are in sin. Anything that violates the love of God is sin.Reason #3 Not all things are wholesome: Not everything is good for us.
Ah, the western culture. We are among the sickest most unhealthiest groups of people on the earth. We have taken the scripture about Peter having the vision of eating what was unclean and ran with it. We have made it to mean that we can eat anything and we will be ok. Just this week we said good bye to a friend who lost to a long time battle with her weight. Her heart and lungs filled with fluid until she couldn't breathe no more. I'm sure that in the beginning she saw no harm with the little dainties and delicacies she was eating until it became too late. Unfortunately many of us will see Jesus sooner than later because we have refused to take care of the body he gave us. Ouch! That hurt me more than it hurt you. We think we can eat a stack of pancakes, pork sausage, hashbrowns all smothered in gravy and stay healthy. Jesus didn't eat pork. If God truly lifted all the food restrictions in the Old Testament then why did Jesus continue to eat fish and bread. I don't know if you noticed this but Jesus did eat a lot of seafood. He did a lot of walking and fasted quite often. Food related diseases like diabetes are at on all time high. If you think you can drink beer with your cake and be around for a long time then you need a check up from the neck up. We can't live a self indulgent lifestyle and live long. Don't let me get started on those fattening Starbucks coffees with donuts. How about all the fast food? Just remember fast food, fast death. Though we have the freedom to eat what we want let's not use that freedom to cut our destiny short here on earth. I don't want to hear Jesus say "Why are you here so soon? I had things for you to do still and I had to find someone else to finish your work." I want to hear, "Well done good and faithful servant." We can't ignore the obvious. Whatever we sow, we reap. This a spiritual principle that even affects our health. See it may be lawful for you to eat everything but not everything is wholesome.
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