“‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” – 1 Corinthians 10:23-24
In Christ, every believer has tremendous freedom. Free from death. Free from sin’s awful power. Free from having to try and reconcile ourselves to our perfect, holy Creator through perfect behavior. The question is, how does Jesus want you to use the freedom He died to give you? Is the grace of God your excuse to indulge every petty personal sin, knowing that God will forgive it in Christ? No! Is your freedom from having to try and save yourself by scrupulous rule-following your invitation to waste your life on pointless and petty indulgences? No!
The freedom given to you by your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ should be used well. It should be a source of blessing to others. It should build you up in Christ rather than wasting your life on trivialities. How can you use your freedom to help others gain that same freedom through faith in Jesus as their Lord? How can you freely give of your time, talent, and treasure to set others free through the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ? How can you invest yourself in the spiritual growth of fellow believers? How can you pour out your life for the glory of God rather than your own glory?
These are the great questions that you are free to wrestle with and live out the answer that pleases Jesus. You are free to choose to make sacrifices, not out of fear, compulsion, or guilt, but out of the overflow of grace and joy in your life. You are free to voluntarily limit yourself to reach others with good news. You are free to build God’s Kingdom with excitement about the coming day when Jesus will return to complete it. What are you free to do for the Lord? Will you do it? Will you #FollowJesus?