Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 85

March 26;   I Corinthians 8:1;   141/260(I);   ‘Love Edifies’ 

1 Corinthians 8:1 Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies

The Word of God, as we read and study it, yields knowledge.  The incredible truths of the Bible make us wise and bless us.  We must always be careful, not to allow, the knowledge gained from the Word of God, to make us prideful.  Knowledge is the intake of the Word of God and we surely need the Lord’s knowledge since it is so different than what the world teaches.  Wisdom is using the knowledge of the Word in a productive manner.  Paul uses an illustration of the improper use of knowledge, concerning food pagan religions offer to idols.  As a Christian, ‘full of the Word,’ you may know that an idol is nothing, and so you eat food offered to idols, knowing that all it is, is food.  A Christian, who does not know what you do, may see you do this. They may still think idols are real and if they eat food offered to idols they are sinning and putting ‘unholy’ food into themselves. Their weak conscience becomes violated.  Then, if they see you in an idol’s temple, eating the food dedicated to that idol, they will become confused and their fellowship with the Lord may suffer greatly.  Because of this, as a mature Christian, we must always be careful not to do things that may cause another, weaker Christian to stumble.  God’s love in us, which is so different from natural human love, is always more concerned about others than itself.  Paul, in his epistles, often talks about never doing anything that would cause a new or weaker Christian to stumble.  God’s love in us, must make us more concerned with others, doing nothing that would jeopardize their walk with Jesus.  What a blessed way to live.