"Good morning! Did you know as a believer in Jesus Christ you have to be willing to accept personal limitations to what you can or can't do even though you are free to do most anything that has no evil in it? The reason for this is that you won't hinder the potential ministry that God has purposed for your life to others.
This is why Jesus warns us, That many are called, but few are chosen (Philippians 3:13-14). Our calling is therefore not a guarantee that we will be used effectively by our Lord. The Word calls for our willingness to put things down in our own lives when they are stumbling blocks for someone else.
Sadly though, many believers will not do this as they retort with anger of how it offends them that you are judging them for what they see no wrong in being able to do. Yet when God's Word teaches...do this: Love God and love your neighbor, and we ignore this in light of our freedom, we have used our freedom to sin. It's become a sin because it has taken the center of your life over God and brother.
If you're free to do some particular thing in your beliefs, and ignore loving God or neighbor in favor of that freedom you have acknowledged that you can have in your life, you are in violation of the greatest command: LOVE. Freedom is the power to let go of something that harms you when it is a bad thing; but it is also a freedom to let go of what may cause a brother to fall though that freedom is not necessarily a bad thing.
When a believer boasts in their freedoms and thereby partakes of something at the expense of another that that freedom would wreck that other person's life, your love is no longer centered around God and neighbor, but rather centered around you. How can you say you love God and others when some freedom has your greater allegiance?
This is the reason the Apostle Paul taught that he died daily to himself that his ministry to others would not be hindered by his participation in something that would offend someone else (see 1 Corinthians 8:13; 2 Corinthians 4:12). Abstaining from something that would hurt another person though you see nothing wrong with it, is a great virtue that only comes from Agape love.
Until we get this right, our indulgences that may not in themselves be wrong per say, but if they would hurt the faith of another brother in the faith or someone who is searching...you have just sacrificed them, instead of you sacrificing you. Jesus said these words: No greater love is there, then he that lays down his life for another." ~Dad~ |
