<\/p>\n
1 Corinthians 8:1-13 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Now about food sacrificed to idols:\u00a0\u00a0 We know that \u201cWe all possess knowledge.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.\u00a0\u00a0 Those who think they know something\u00a0\u00a0 do not yet know as they ought to know.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But whoever loves God is known by God.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols:\u00a0\u00a0 We know that \u201cAn idol is nothing at all in the world\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 and that \u201cThere is no God but one.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For even if there are so-called gods,\u00a0\u00a0 whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many \u201cgods\u201d and many \u201clords\u201d),\u00a0\u00a0 yet for us there is but one God,\u00a0\u00a0 the Father,\u00a0\u00a0 from whom all things came\u00a0\u00a0 and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord,\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus Christ, through whom all things came\u00a0\u00a0 and through whom we live.\u00a0\u00a0 But not everyone possesses this knowledge.\u00a0\u00a0 Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak,\u00a0\u00a0 it is defiled.\u00a0\u00a0 But food does not bring us near to God;\u00a0\u00a0 we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.\u00a0\u00a0 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block\u00a0\u00a0 to the weak.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol\u2019s temple, won\u2019t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed\u00a0\u00a0 by your knowledge.\u00a0\u00a0 When you sin against them\u00a0\u00a0 in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There is often a price to be paid in obtaining the truth of God, and we should be willing to pay the price, whatever it may be. Once having obtained the truth, we should not give it up.<\/p>\n
The verse is not to be taken with such strict literalness that we would buy Bibles and Christian literature, but would not sell them under any circumstances. Buying the truth here means making great sacrifices to achieve the knowledge of divine principles. It may mean hostility from one’s family, loss of employment, separation from religious ties, financial loss, or even physical abuse.<\/p>\n
To sell the truth means to compromise it or abandon it altogether. We should never be willing to do that.<\/p>\n
In his book Church in the House, Arnot wrote: “It is a general law of human nature that what comes lightly, goes lightly. What we gain by a hard struggle, we retain with a firmer grasp, whether it be our fortune or our faith. Those men who have obtained great wealth without any trouble or toil of their own, often scatter it and die in poverty. It is seldom that the man who gains a fortune by gigantic labor wastes the wealth he has won. In like manner, give me the Christian who has fought his way to his Christianity. If it is through fire and water that he has reached the wealthy place, he will not lightly leave his rich inheritance.”<\/p>\n
Saints of all ages have turned their back on family, fame and fortune in order to enter the strait gate and walk the narrow way. Like the Apostle Paul, they have counted all else but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord. Like Rahab they have renounced the idols of paganism and acknowledged Jehovah as the only true God, even if it seemed like betrayal of their own people. Like Daniel, they have refused to sell the truth, even if it meant being thrown into a den of bloodthirsty lions.<\/p>\n
But God will always have those choice souls who so value the hidden treasure of truth that they are willing to sell all that they have to buy it, and having bought it, they are unwilling to sell it at any price. (Miller)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1 Corinthians 8:1-13 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Now about food sacrificed to idols:\u00a0\u00a0 We know that \u201cWe all possess knowledge.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.\u00a0\u00a0 Those who think they know something\u00a0\u00a0 do not yet know as they ought to know.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But whoever loves God is known by God.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So then, about eating food sacrificed to … Continue reading “66.y. 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 \u00a0“<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-199665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199665"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199669,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199665\/revisions\/199669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}