Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
The Practicality of Scripture
I just absolutely love how practical Scripture is. I think you'll understand as we get into this. Maybe you've been sitting at work or at home, and you started thinking, I just want something to eat or something to drink. What's the first thing you think about when that's the case? It's typically, oh, this sounds really good.
Your mouth starts salivating, and you start thinking about and picturing this drink or this food. Or your first thought is, okay, what does my trainer or my doctor say I can or can't have?
Our Verse of the Day today comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 31. It says, "So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
Now, thinking back to our verse today, are we sitting here thinking, okay, what does the Lord want me to have right now to eat or drink? Not really. Let's look at this practically.
Meat Offered to Idols
Let's put this in the context of this passage and what this really translates into for our lives. I encourage you to read 1 Corinthians chapter 10. It's packed full of some great, great practical things for our lives, especially as we apply it through the lens of the historical context of that time period versus today.
Now we have grocery stores we all go to, and we have a whole meat section we get to choose from. In that time, a lot took place where meat was delivered to temples and offered to false gods, and whatever was left over from the meat was actually what was sold in the street markets.
There was a lot of meat that was actually offered to idols at that time. That's what this passage really delves into—the appropriateness of eating meat offered to idols. As Paul is unpacking this with the church of Corinth, it's interesting, because he was saying that if you go to an unbeliever's house and they offer meat, don't ask where it came from, because you don't want your conscience to be seared.
If the host actually says that this meat was offered to idols, now the host is making an issue out of it and saying, hey, this meat was offered to idols, as if that is a good thing. Paul is saying to refrain from eating that meat, because now you have to be a testimony to the world.
What Does the Lord Want?
That's the context of all of this. Paul is really saying we can't just constantly live in this world where we just do things, where our mind goes to, what do I want? He's actually saying that in everything we do, our first thought is, what does the Lord want me to have or to do? Secondly, how am I representing the Lord as an example, as an opportunity to be a witness and give God glory in everything I do?—whether it's eating or drinking, whether it's meat or wine at the time, because there were also drink offerings to false gods.
It was a variety of things Paul is addressing to say, before we do things, do we actually consider ourselves first and what we desire? Or do we actually consider what God may desire, and how we are communicating who we are in Christ to the world by what we do?
Even the Basic Fundamentals
That's why I so love the practicality of this, because eating and drinking are so basic and fundamental to our everyday lives. I'm sure all of us, if we go without food or water or something to drink, by the end of the day we're hungry and then some. We're constantly living in this space of the basic fundamentals.
Even in the basic fundamentals, do we actually consider God? Do we actually consider that our body is God's? Do we actually consider how we represent God to those around us and what we're communicating, even by the basic, fundamental things of what we eat and drink? It's just such a core, amazing truth that we have in Scripture, because at the end of the day, we represent Christ in all that we do, no matter what that is—whether it's the fundamental things of our day-to-day, like eating and drinking, or all of the other tasks that we go about doing, or our behavior in other things that we do.
At the end of the day, I'd encourage you, whether you're eating or drinking today, let your focus be on what God is wanting for you today, to represent Him well.
