What Rights?

Joshua 20 and 1 Corinthians 9 were today's reading from the Life Journal.

To be honest, Joshua 20 didn't seem to me like it really fit with 1 Corinthians 9, unless I were to start really pulling things apart and took the time to "make it fit."  So, I just focused in on Paul's letter to Corinth.

1 Corinthians 9 struck a nice chord in me, and by "nice" I mean "smacked me in the face until I cried a little."  Paul is too convicting for me most days, and today was not an exception.  First, I loved how the entire chapter (at least in my Bible) was titled "Paul Surrenders His Rights."  In my head as I was starting to read this chapter, I was thinking, "Great!  This is already convicting me, and I haven't even read any verses..."

Anyway, Paul is defending some decisions that he has made for the sake of furthering the Gospel.  Then one of my favorite verses of all time, and especially in this chapter, comes along:

"...I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some." 1 Cor. 9:22b

I know I've said this before, but GAH!  Why'd you have to go and say that Paul?  You mean I need to do whatever it takes to bring people to the Kingdom?  You mean I have to give up my "rights" so that people will know Jesus?  Paul even went so far as to say that he would live under the law to save the Jews and give himself a little more freedom from the law, without sinning, to save the Gentiles.

The questions I'm asking myself this morning, then, are these:  Am I being ALL things to ALL people so that some might be saved?  Am I willing to doing anything for the sake of Jesus Christ's call on my life?

There are too many days in my life where the honest answer to those questions is embarrassing.

Battle

"And swelling up inside of us, there's this pride in us, this arrogance
And our only line of defense is the sense that I'm not as half as bad as this friend of mine, so I
must be fine
We mean well, don't we?"
~Jimmy Needham

I was reading in 1 Corinthians 8 this morning (yay, Life Journal!), and it was about not eating food sacrificed to idols. While that is literally applicable to some cultures, I don't know of anyone in the U.S. who regularly struggles with this issue. However, I do think this chapter is still completely convicting for my own heart.

It seems to me that the bigger issue in this chapter is pride. These new Christians were getting thrown off track, stumbling, because the more experienced Christians were proud of the fact that they could eat meat sacrificed to idols. "It's only food. Idols are stupid anyway! We only believe in one God, don't we?" They were prideful! That's what made me think of the Jimmy Needham quote up there.

What they should have been doing was looking out for their less-experienced brothers, setting an example for them because they were too immature in their faith to choose for themselves. See, Paul even says at the end, "Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble." Why does he say this? Because he won't eat meat anymore?

Sure. I guess if it came to that, he wouldn't. But I think the real reason he said something so extreme was because he thinks it's more important to look out for the best interests of his brothers and sisters in Christ. Sounds reminiscent of Philippians 2...

So my question for myself today - what is winning the battle in my life? Pride or Love?

Reality check...I think all to often it's pride...