Rev. Ray and Pat Amos

“Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.” 1 Corinthians 8:13

We live in a world where values and cultures butt heads like mountain goats. What I feel is sin for me may not be considered sin by another Christian. (Now sin is sin, there is no doubt; but some things we call wrong are from our own minds, and not from God.) Both of us can love God with all our heart, but still have differences on the subject of some rights and wrongs.

I said to a minister friend, “Let’s get together for a cup of coffee.” “I don’t drink coffee,” he said. He explained that he was raised in a religious tradition that considered drinking coffee a sin; and that he still had the same conviction. Now for someone like me (who drinks a gallon of coffee a day); it would be easy to put up my argument that there is no sin in drinking coffee. I think that it is much more pleasing to God if I forget my prideful argument, and forgo the coffee when we get together; our fellowship is far more important.

There is a great bit of freedom with Christianity; but just because we are free to do some things, it doesn’t mean that it is always right or best. Whatever we do, we must consider the people around us, and the influence we have upon them.

Eating food that had been offered to an idol wasn’t a sin to Paul because he understood that an idol wasn’t a real god. He also realized that it would be a stumbling block to some; so he made a conscious decision to simply not do it.

Christians must always maintain a priority of conscience. No matter what we say or do, we should seek to live our witness in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, and strengthening to each other’s faith. A little sacrifice of personal pleasure is a small price to pay if we can be an encouragement to someone who is struggling with life. This is the “More Excellent Way.”

“Lord, please make me on this day to be as wise as a serpent, but harmless as a dove. I need not be so foolish as to have to always be right on every subject. My heart belongs to you, O Lord; and there are others (many others) who love you just as much. Let our witness be as one. Then the world will know that You are our redeeming Savior, the hope for all our brokenness. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive…Amen”

Grace and Peace, Rev Ray (1/23/2019)