Some of Paul's words have been fully and completely heard, accepted, and applied to our lives. Some of what he says, we have truly taken to heart and made a part of our daily lives.
Take, for example, his instructions on eating meat offered to idols. When was the last time you worried (or even considered) whether a meal you were consuming had previously been part of some ritual sacrifice? In I Corinthians 10, Paul gives instructions on how one is to respond, when invited to the house of another. If the meat we are offered does not offend us, then go ahead and eat it. He says.
Have you not applied this to your life? Don't you eat, without concern, as to where the meat was offered?
Perhaps you are thinking, "Sacrifice to other gods is no longer practiced." Perhaps true, but I am anticipating a lot of fires and sacrificial offerings come Saturday as those eighty some thousand gather to adore (if not worship) the god of Clemson football.
I am not attempting to build an argument that we have turned college football into the god upon which we lavish our gifts and devote our time (any attempts to do this would leave me open to questions about my devotion to NASCAR.) But as I read I Corinthians 10 this morning, I thought of all this. Particularly when I got to the first verse of the 11th chapter. "Give no offense... Just as I try to please all.... not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved."
How offensive ought it be that we can turn out 80K+ for a football game, but have a tough time getting 300 to participate in the CROP Walk for World Hunger? What is the value of all those tailgating tents, seen on game day? And why do we find it so difficult to raise enough money to pay for the Homecoming Habitat House?
It might be offensive, to some, when they observe the resources we devote to entertaining ourselves as compared to the resources given to save others.
Some of Paul's words we have heard, accepted, and applied to our lives. Others - well, we might have a ways to go.
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