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...