THE MAIN THING

READING: 1 CORINTHIANS 10:23-32

Verse 31: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

In 1 Corinthians 10, the Apostle Paul addresses a controversy that existed in the early Church. People were concerned about whether it was right for them to eat meat that had been offered to idols. They probably wanted Paul to tell them that either they could eat the meat or they could not. His response to them was very different. Paul’s instructions had little to do with the right or wrong of eating the meat. He left them with opportunity to do either. What was more important to him was that their choices would glorify God. Sometimes we get wrapped around the axle looking for the right or wrong in an issue. We miss the fact that conscience or attitude may mean more than an actual choice or decision. Paul’s words to the Corinthians, as usual, apply to us also. He wrote as quoted in verse 31 above. The message is that our choices are validated when they glorify the Lord! That’s a thought – about God’s Word.

RESPONSE

1. What, for us, is similar to what the issue of eating meat was to them?

2. If you were in the Corinthian Church, how would you have responded to Paul’s counsel?