"As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil."
There are three principles that Christians should follow in how we live our daily life: First is the principle of freedom. Verse 14 says that "no food is unclean in itself." In other words, in Christ we are free. No authority of darkness and sin can oppress us and we don't need to live under any tradition and rules. We have tremendously amount of freedom in choices that don't concern morality. In the past, men would wear three-piece suits to church, but now jeans are perfectly acceptable; in the past, it was shameful for women not to cover their heads, but now any hairstyle is permissible.
Second is the principle of love. Although we have freedom of choice in all things unrelated to morality, we must make decisions on whether to do something based on our love for people. The Bible says that the standard of our conscience should be the conscience of those who are weak. If our freedom causes other believers to stumble, then we might as well not do those things because of the Lord. For example, the Bible never says that pastors cannot watch DVDs. One time an elderly lady came from Taiwan and I lent her some videos of TV programs from home, but her reaction was "how could a pastor watch these things?" Afterwards I felt guilty because I caused someone to stumble, so I decided to throw away all the secular videos. It was certainly my personal decision, not the law; however, by the principle of love, I'd rather choose to give up some of the rights that I deserved.
Third is the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Not all things must follow the principle of love, else you'd be living under all sorts of different expectation and you won't be able to do anything. One time I sat beside a child during a meal; he saw me eating and was surprised: "how come pastors need to eat?" I didn't know what to say, and obviously I wouldn't stop eating because of what he said. Besides the principles of freedom and love, we must also follow voice of the Holy Spirit. If Holy Spirit prompts us to do something, we must obey; if the Holy Spirit is silent, then we have absolute freedom and we don't need be bound by the judgment of others, because the confirmation from Holy Spirit is actually right in our heart.
May the Lord give us wisdom to know when to exercise the principles of freedom and love, and when to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit, so that we can always make the right decisions.
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