Day
📖Daily Reading
1 Corinthians 8
🎥 Video
Join me on my morning walk as we rise and shine together by walking through the Bible daily and learn a practical applicable coaching nugget from the ultimate life coach - our creator (whatever that means to you). No judgement zone here, all are welcome, we are all on a spiritual journey because we are after all spiritual beings having a human experience.
📝 Reflection
1 Corinthians 8: 9-13
“But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer for whom Christ died will be destroyed. And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble.”
We live in a world where many literally wear the title of ‘influencer’ and are striving to become influencers. In truth we are all influencers at some level. When you have achieved levels of freedom and knowledge it is very tempting to go around trying to influence others. Paul himself was an influencer, but he knew he had a responsibility first to have a clear conscience and that he needed to respect others in their level conscientiousness. If someone sees you as an authority and more knowledgeable and looks up to you they may do something that they don’t have a clear conscience about. Your knowledge and your influence may cause a sense of shame in them for not being where you are, and so they may betray themselves and their conscience.
This is tricky, because if I knowingly cause you to stumble then my conscience is also compromised. Now we are both in trouble. Paul starts off this chapter by reminding us that God’s ways are not our ways. Love is at the top of God’s hierarchy, knowledge is at the top of human hierarchy. We have to live upside down as we ‘achieve’ higher levels of freedom in love, in Christ. As we ascend the hierarchy of Love/God we descend according to the world. We must surrender to this and respect it so that we can live in harmony with others and not just that we can love them.
Paul chooses the way of love over knowledge of his own freedom that he has. He says even if it means I never eat meat again, even though I know that I am free to do so, I will gladly give it up to not cause another ‘weaker’ to believer to stumble in their walk of faith. Those of us that have more freedom and understanding and have a great position of influence that we are not causing others to do things that are against their own conscience and where they are in their beliefs.
For me as a coach in the sobriety world, if I came to a place of freedom from alcohol where I felt like I could drink again, I would not do it even if I felt free to do it because of my position of influence. In good conscience I will never drink again because I would knowingly causes others to stumble. There are many other examples of this. Parents are often caught in this trap as adults we may feel free to do lots of things, and as our children grow and they are getting mixed messages from us. We are telling them maybe not to do this or that, but then teaching and role modeling the exact opposite in front of them. This was part of my own crisis of conscience, was as a parent.
Pauls letter to the church of Corinth is masterfully written in how it has built upon itself concept by concept. So much here to sit with and meditate on, that can easily be missed if you think he is just talking about the topics of that day which were food and sexual behaviors that were causing problems for those communities at the time. We in modern times are being inundated at an exponential rate with technology, social media and exposure to so much information it can be utterly confusing if you don’t have a firm foundation.
So even if you don’t believe in God or think that the Bible has anything to offer you- it is one of the most timeless books of wisdom. It can be a guide and a light unto our feet even in modern times. Love, grace, mercy and humility are timeless because from this place we will treat our fellow humans with respect wether you agree with them or no. This will still help you live in harmony even in a world of apparent chaos. Not only will you be able to live in harmony but by default you will be a light to help guide others - you don’t have to ‘try’ to influence others, you just will. Jesus of course was the perfect and ultimate example of this, being able to say ‘forgive them father for they know not what they do’ while on the cross being tortured, ridiculed and publicly humiliated.
I know I needed this message as I am in a professional position of influence and I have a lot of knowledge and freedom personally and I can easily influence people that come to me for help to do things before they are ready. They may agree that they believe something in my presence that they don’t really believe, they might think they have to pretend because they look up to me. I have to have so much humility, I have not always been so good at this. It still bothers my conscience, but I know that I have grace, mercy and love and I was doing my best at the time. As I know better, I can do better, I do not let shame have more than a few minutes with me. When it comes knocking, I listen to its message, evaluate if it is true and adjust if needed.
✍🏼Daily Journal Prompt
Can you think of examples that you have flaunted your freedom or used your influence in a way that wasn’t helpful? If you have that is ok, there is no shame. When we can be honest and see how influential we really are we can choose to be more intentional, respectful and careful with others. This is love ❤️. This is being fully free but not ‘abusing’ our freedom. This is choosing love ❤️, over knowledge.
📖Tomorrows Reading
1 Corinthians 9
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