Knowledge is Good; Love is Better

TODAY'S READING: Job 35, 36; 1 Cor. 7, 8

SCRIPTURE: 1 Cor. 8
¹ Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. ² The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. ³ But the man who loves God is known by God.

⁴ So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. ⁵ For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), ⁶ yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

⁷ But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. ⁸ But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

⁹ Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰ For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, won’t he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? ¹¹ So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. ¹² When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. ¹³ 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.

OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Although there is one specific issue that Paul is dealing with here, the principle he espouses applies to many different issues that have relevance in today's churches. I may possess the knowledge that the Bible does not forbid drinking wine or other alcoholic drinks as long as a person doesn't get drunk. However, if I insist on my right to imbibe whenever I want to, I am not acting out of love. What about if I am in the presence of someone struggling with an addiction to alcohol? What if there are under-age young people near me? My knowledge of the truth can actually harm them by giving them "permission" to do something that a sin for them. (Yes, there are some things that are sin for one person and not for another. If you have an addiction to overspending, a shopping spree with friends can be sin for you and not for others who do not overspend). Paul makes it clear that we are to be motivated by love for one another. I must be willing to limit my freedoms in order to protect the consciences of others who do not possess the same level of knowledge that I have. Therefore, if I am with a friend who has a problem with gluttony, I choose not to order dessert when we are out for a meal together. I choose, out of love, to not engage in anything that could be a problem for them, even if it is not one for me. I must not be puffed up in my knowledge, insisting that others embrace my understanding of holiness. The passage is very clear that if we are insistent on our rights to do as we please based on our knowledge of the Word and it harms another person, we have sinned against Jesus. Those are strong words that we must heed.

PRAYER: Father, there is such wisdom in your Word. Help me to always treat my fellow believers with respect and dignity. I never want to sin against you by insisting on my own way. In Jesus' Name, Amen.