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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Sunday, June 25, 2023
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :Food Offered to Idols Bible Verse:1 Corinthians 8 (ESV) "Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth — as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords” — yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. " Message:
As we saw in verse 1 of Chapter 7, Paul had obviously received a letter from the Corinthians, and 1 Corinthians is, in part, a response to it. He is answering questions. Here, someone has apparently asked him whether it was right to eat food that had been sacrificed to an idol/god.
He begins with an eloquent truth. All knowledge is vanity, for there is one truth that we really know; and that, we know with our hearts. That is, the knowledge that there is one God, the God of love, by whom all things exist. For our knowledge of God is different from other knowledge. It is not simply in our mind, but in our hearts, our souls, in every fiber of our being.
His conclusion, then, is simple. Once you have this knowledge, it doesn’t matter whether you eat food consecrated to some imaginary god or not. It's just nonsense. It has no effect on us.
But, he cautions, we must take care, for if there are people who know we do such a thing and they do not have our knowledge of God, we may become unwitting assistants in their downfall. If a gullible person sees us eating food, which others have told him has power because of a pagan god’s blessing, he may think we secretly believe it.
This may seem archaic, but the principle is not. What will you do if someone reads your horoscope? Do you act like some numbers are “lucky” and others are not? These are utter nonsense, but superstition can be deeply ingrained. If you have knowledge of God, you can read your horoscope or not; but if you play along, what influence will it have on others, that you have not dismissed it as the heathen nonsense it is?
Meditation : Prayer : I pray that I may be blessed every step of my path this day by the great God of light. May your sun shine upon me; as the moon moves the tide, may your Spirit move my emotions with every grace and magic; may my heart sing with the voice of your angels and my hearth be warm; and may this and every blessed day You have given me be filled with joy......Amen |
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