All things are lawful for me, but all things are not
expedient:
all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. 1Cor10:23 For brethren, you have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Gal5:13 My life as a Christian is to draw people to Christ not away from them. The only constraint to total freedom in Christ is to love my neighbor as Christ loved me. Since I live by faith and walk in the Spirit I am not under the law, yet I must choose to crucify the flesh because the deeds of the flesh like fornication, stealing, anger, wrath, malice and the rest cataloged in Colossians chapter three will not build up the body of Christ or lead the unbeliever to receive Him. “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1Cor13:11) Living under the law and living in the flesh are childish things. When I became a mature Christian I live by love, I live by faith and hope and neither the flesh or the law are operative any longer. Being guided by the Spirit of love is all that is required to living an adult Christian life. Whatever promotes love whether in my giving or in my service is all that is necessary to live by faith. When I am born again it is my faith in Christ that led me to repent and it is that same faith which calls me to love my neighbor as myself. It is my faith in Christ that leads me to abandon the righteousness of the law and the lust of the flesh so that Christ may save others by my witness through the efficacy of the cross. “If we walk in the Spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh” (Gal5;16) Rather than sheer willpower, if we are living in the Spirit, the Spirit himself will keep us from driving someone away from Christ and and will check us so we can fulfill the royal commandment to love. Simply yielding to the Spirit either to do something or refrain from doing something is living by faith working by love. All the rest is simply blither. Amen |