For the Glory

Day 228: 1 Corinthians 10:14-33

“Whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, you must do all for the glory of God.” - 1 Corinthians 10:31

It is our fallen nature that makes us want to know our limits when it comes to living. What am I allowed to do as a Christian? What is definitively a sin? Why does my behavior have to affect someone else?

Yesterday’s reading had to do a lot with evangelism, what Paul was willing to do to reach those who had yet to say “yes” to Jesus. Today we see how we’re supposed to interact with fellow believers.

The fact of the matter is that none of us becomes Christians in isolation. When we confess Christ, we join one body. This “one body” is from every part of the globe, speaking various languages. Our worldwide family includes the socially elite and the outcasts.

So how are we to interact with each other? How will we know when we’ve become self-focused? What is the filter? Verses 24 and 31 are the key. The following question flows out of them: Is what I am about to do “for the glory of God” and “what is best” for the body of Christ?

For Paul, this was a simple decision. He was going to do whatever it took to gain influence for the sake of the many, "that they may be saved."

What sacrifices is God asking you to make today in order to reach more for Jesus' kingdom?

"Not to the glorification either of your own breadth of mind or your over-scrupulosity of conscience, but 'that God in all things may be glorified' (1 Pet. 4:11)." - Spence-Jones, H. D. M., ed. (1909). 1 Corinthians (p. 326)