Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

August 08, 2019

by Pastor Hawtree

BIBLE READING: I Corinthians 6

12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

We Christians have always struggled with this, and we probably always will. We often get stuck by reasoning within ourselves if something is lawful or not, instead of reasoning if it is expedient or not. We are living in the dispensation of Grace. It means that we are not governed by traditional Mosaic law. The Bible does not say “for by law are you saved through faith”. The Bible teaches “for by grace are you saved through faith”. This means we do not put our faith in our ability to try to keep a law, we put our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

But we can often abuse Grace. Grace was not given to give us freedom to sin. We have grace so that we can have freedom from sin. Grace should lead us to a more holy life, not a more worldly life. Paul understood this perfectly. Paul taught that there were many things that he could do and not be judged by a law. Paul also understood that some of those things would not be “expedient”, or profitable, or good for him to do. So, Paul’s governing factor for the way he lived his life was not by what was legal, but by what was profitable for his witness for Christ.

Paul also teaches that even though all things “legal” for him, there was also the danger that those things could end up consuming Paul. Those things could become addicting. Those things could literally have power over Paul. Remember:

* Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

We are to make sure that we are not to be controlled by anything other than the Spirit of God. There are many people that do things and have done things because they feel that by grace they have the right to participate in those, only to find out later that those things took over. A spiritually mature person is not a person that tries to come up with everything worldly that they can justify doing. A spiritually mature person is concerned solely about the impact of his witness for Christ and pleasing Christ with his life. Stay away from people that are always trying to find some verse in the Bible to justify something that their flesh wants to participate in. Instead, stay close to those who are so sensitive to the Holy Spirit of God that they humbly, constantly seek to please God in all that they do. Trust me, you would rather be pulled in that direction than the other.