Do All to the Glory of God...

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” ~ 1 Corinthians 10:31, NKJV

In first Corinthians nine, Paul concluded by urging the Corinthian believers to run the race of faith in such a way as to obtain the prize. In chapter ten, as a continuation of this exhortation, he points his readers to the Exodus generation of Israelites. Almost an entire generation died in the wilderness because they rebelled against God and persisted in idolatry, sexual immortality, tempting (that is, trying to push God's envelope), and complaining. It's idolatry that Paul is particularly concerned with, since it is at the back of all the other sins. With reference to the communion of Christ and the sacrifices made to other gods (which are really just demons), Paul reminds the Corinthians, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.” (vs. 1) You can't be hot and cold at the same time; you can't be wet and dry; you can't be Christ's and also be Satan's. The two conditions are mutually exclusive. If the overall direction of your life is one of idolatry, if you choose to serve a god other than Him (anything that takes God's place in a human heart is another god), then you are not of Christ. You can't be. However, the converse also holds true: if you are of Christ, if the overall direction of your life is one of obedience to Him, if when you sin you feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit and repent, then it is not possible for you to be a partaker with demons. That's why, as Paul explains, a believer could eat the meat offered to idols (a practice widely considered as part of the worship ritual itself), without issue. The believer thanks God for the food, which, after all, He created, and his eating is thus to the glory of God and not part of a sacrifice to demons. So if the Corinthians wanted to flee idolatry, as their spiritual father so anxiously urged them, “ ...whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

by Rebecca...