Daily Devotion with Pastor Tong Liu: Today's Passage

1 Corinthians 8:9-13

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.

Paul reminds us of several principles of how to act:

First is the principle of freedom. In Christ, we are free, and we can do anything. However, there also needs to be the principle of love. This principle of love says that the exercise of our freedom should not become a stumbling block to the weak. We should give up our freedom for our brothers, and refrain from doing certain things if it causes others to stumble.

I remember years ago when I began to pastor, the congregation was very small. At that time a sister's mother came from Taiwan to live in the United States. She was very lonely, and so I thought I would lend her a videotape of a famous Taiwanese singer so she can watch it. Unexpectedly, when I gave her the videotape, her first reaction was, "Wow, how could a pastor watch such videos?" These words suddenly reminded me and the Holy Spirit prompted me that I need to be a witness for Christ as a pastor. Since then, I stopped watching these types of video. This is a demonstration of the principle of love.

Thirdly is the principle of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot do anything. One time, I was having dinner with a child. When he saw me eating beside him, he was suddenly surprised, and said, "Why would a pastor need to eat?!" I was shocked, and obviously I did not stop eating after that incident. In the previous example of watching certain videotapes, the Holy Spirit had prompted me, and I had acted according to the prompting. In other situations, if the Holy Spirit did not prompt me, I would not change my course of action. As such, the principle of love needs to be guided by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. In this way, God will be able to lead us in our lives to glorify His holy name.

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, how we need your wisdom to deal with our daily circumstances. May you personally bless every brother and sister, so that we may choose to glorify your name and seek your will, so that your name may be lifted up high. We thank you and pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!