I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 9-11

As I read today’s passage, none of it really “spoke” to me.  There are several things I am going to comment on that I am quite confident about what Paul was saying when he wrote them.  However,, I feel like Paul was also making a connection between these things which I am missing.  First Paul speaks about how, as an apostle, he had the right to ask those to whom he preached to provide for his needs, and for the needs of his family.  Paul chose however not to exercise that right because he felt compelled to preach.  Providing for his own needs as he traveled preaching the Gospel allowed Paul to feel that he was serving God above and beyond his calling. By refusing to take payment for his preaching, Paul was able to silence critics who tried to claim that his preaching served his own interests rather than the truth of God.

Paul goes on to speak about when we experience temptation to sin.  He tells us that we should not feel that the temptations which we experience are more difficult to resist than those which others experience.  He goes on to tell us that God will provide us with a means to resist the temptation.  We cannot excuse our sins by saying that the temptation was too powerful for us to resist.  So, when we find ourselves facing temptations which we have trouble resisting, we need to seek to identify the means which God is providing us to escape those temptations. From there Paul goes on to write about eating meat offered to idols in a way which he seems to be connecting to what I just wrote (and this following section is where I feel like I am missing something).  If we go to the market to buy meat we should not ask if it has been offered to an idol, nor should we ask that question if someone we know is an idol worshiper invites us to eat with them.  In both cases, we may be generically aware that it was offered to an idol, but as long as no one makes us specifically aware that such was the case we are free to consume the food in good conscience.  On the other hand, if someone goes out of their way, especially someone who is an idol worshiper, to inform us that the food was offered to an idol, we should refrain from eating it.    We should refrain so as to avoid reinforcing the idol worshiper’s belief in the power of their idol.

I was going to end there, but I realized that I had not gone over one of the most important thing Paul wrote in any of his letters.  As Christians who are saved not by our actions but by God’s grace we are free to do anything which we please.  Paul ardently agrees with that thought.  However, he points out that while we are free to do anything, not everything which we might do is beneficial.  When we consider doing something we should consider whether or not it is good for others around us. It should please us to do only those things which please God, and that which pleases God is that which is beneficial to others.  Anything which we choose to do should, at the very least, not be harmful to others, and ideally it will bring benefit to others.