1 CORINTHIANS 10:23-24

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.

TO PONDER

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." I have used that exact line with my own children and other lines like it in my previous career as a primary school teacher. Anyone who has had or worked with younger children will be able to tell you that they are by nature, selfish. Much hard work, time, and anergy is required to teach and train a child out of those intuitive selfish behaviours, and to teach instead attitudes and practices of empathy and sharing. Just because you may be bigger and are physically capable of snatching toys from other kids, doesn't mean you should.

Just because, in Christ, we now have freedom from the Law doesn't mean we should use disregard it altogether. God's laws still outline for us how life in human community works best. Sure, we are free to ignore it, and the sacrificial death of Jesus and his resurrection have freed us from judgement under the law, but it still has a purpose. It can still inform and direct our behaviour, not out of any sense that we have to follow it, but because it shows us what is constructive, it shows us what is good. It's one of the tools God has given us to train us away from our intuitive selfish behaviours and to help us think and act for the good of others.

Yes, you have the right or ability to do anything, but not everything is helpful or beneficial. Let God help you learn what is.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for the freedom that I have in you. Help me to learn what is helpful and what is not. Please help me to live in the freedom you have won for me in a way that leads others into that same freedom. Amen

Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle