It’s finally arrived.
That long-awaited aura of “getevenwithemism” is gaining ground in the American culture today.
We’re quickly regressing to what many of us remember to be a more comfortable era when we didn’t have to walk on eggshells in the course of normal conversation for fear or offending someone with our choice of words or expressing our personal opinions based on core values.
And the change is welcomed. Just ask anybody and they’ll tell you:
“Everybody’s gettin’ too sensitive about stuff.”
I agree. This push to reshape the easily offended mindset of the day is legitimate for the most part because the outrage usually amounts to nothing more than whining and is grounded in ulterior motives.
But to what degree does the faithful disciple of Jesus Christ set his brother straight yet continue to defend his own personal habits under the auspice of his freedom in our Lord?
How easily could this pendulum of sound reasoning cut too wide a path swinging in the other direction, crushing a fragile Christian conscience in the process? After all, we’ve all been vulnerable to unnecessary correction at one time or another. And the reasons were varied and complex.
In his letter to the church of God which [was] at Corinth, to those who [had] been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place [called] on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours…, the apostle Paul warned the reader:
“But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak…for through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. [1Cor. 8:9, 8:11-12] [my emphasis]
It seems that the word to remember here is “somehow.” There’s no process set in stone. Nor are there any pocket-sized flowcharts or smart phone apps to help determine when to bring the hammer down and when to let it slide.
So, here’s another thought—not mine, of course:
“For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more…to the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I might by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I might become a fellow partaker of it. [1Cor. 9:19, 9:22-23] [my emphasis]
Far from being vague in his technique, Paul demonstrated the very essence of what our Lord did for all men and women by being born a man and living on the Earth.
He didn’t act like he was all things to all men. He became those things.
That’s what partakers do.
“Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved.” [1Cor. 10:32-33]
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Posted: October 27, 2017 by cjournalme
The Art of Becoming
It’s finally arrived.
That long-awaited aura of “getevenwithemism” is gaining ground in the American culture today.
We’re quickly regressing to what many of us remember to be a more comfortable era when we didn’t have to walk on eggshells in the course of normal conversation for fear or offending someone with our choice of words or expressing our personal opinions based on core values.
And the change is welcomed. Just ask anybody and they’ll tell you:
“Everybody’s gettin’ too sensitive about stuff.”
I agree. This push to reshape the easily offended mindset of the day is legitimate for the most part because the outrage usually amounts to nothing more than whining and is grounded in ulterior motives.
But to what degree does the faithful disciple of Jesus Christ set his brother straight yet continue to defend his own personal habits under the auspice of his freedom in our Lord?
How easily could this pendulum of sound reasoning cut too wide a path swinging in the other direction, crushing a fragile Christian conscience in the process? After all, we’ve all been vulnerable to unnecessary correction at one time or another. And the reasons were varied and complex.
In his letter to the church of God which [was] at Corinth, to those who [had] been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place [called] on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours…, the apostle Paul warned the reader:
“But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak…for through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. [1Cor. 8:9, 8:11-12] [my emphasis]
It seems that the word to remember here is “somehow.” There’s no process set in stone. Nor are there any pocket-sized flowcharts or smart phone apps to help determine when to bring the hammer down and when to let it slide.
So, here’s another thought—not mine, of course:
“For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more…to the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I might by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I might become a fellow partaker of it. [1Cor. 9:19, 9:22-23] [my emphasis]
Far from being vague in his technique, Paul demonstrated the very essence of what our Lord did for all men and women by being born a man and living on the Earth.
He didn’t act like he was all things to all men. He became those things.
That’s what partakers do.
“Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved.” [1Cor. 10:32-33]
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