Should I go to the party my friends at school are having at their house?  I’m a church kid who is a believer who tries to stay out of trouble.  So, what do I do?  Since I was a kid, I asked God for help in relationships.  I was taught by parents and grandparents to ask God about all of life.  I read that God actually delights in the details of our lives and is always ready to help us.  I am so glad for this training and wonderful demonstrations of thinking and living this way.  I am immensely grateful for God’s Holy Spirit who gave me discernment in decision making.  Throughout middle and high school, invitations were dealt with by asking God what He thought. 

We pass on seeking God’s gift of discernment when we train our children to ask God before jumping to conclusions, leaping into temptations, or leaning on their own understanding about life.  In all things of life, we must ask; Will what I am about to think, say or do be pleasing to God and give Him glory?

We cannot rely on our fleeting feelings that change hourly. We cannot rely on our own wisdom for we only see what is in front of us. Only God can see what lies ahead and knows the hearts of everyone around us.  It’s “common sense” then, as Paul says, to rely on God’s help, who loves to give us exactly what we need when we need it. 

“Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence.”

1 Corinthians 10, The Message

^1-5 Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraculously through the Sea. They went through the waters, in a baptism like ours, as Moses led them from enslaving death to salvation life. They all ate and drank identical food and drink, meals provided daily by God. They drank from the Rock, God’s fountain for them that stayed with them wherever they were. And the Rock was Christ. But just experiencing God’s wonder and grace didn’t seem to mean much—most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased.

^6-10 The same thing could happen to us. We must be on guard so that we never get caught up in wanting our own way as they did. And we must not turn our religion into a circus as they did—“First the people partied, then they threw a dance.” We must not be sexually promiscuous—they paid for that, remember, with 23,000 deaths in one day! We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving him; they tried it, and God launched an epidemic of poisonous snakes. We must be careful not to stir up discontent; discontent destroyed them.

^11-12 These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence.

¹³ No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.

¹⁴ So, my very dear friends, when you see people reducing God to something they can use or control, get out of their company as fast as you can.

^15-18 I assume I’m addressing believers now who are mature. Draw your own conclusions: When we drink the cup of blessing, aren’t we taking into ourselves the blood, the very life, of Christ? And isn’t it the same with the loaf of bread we break and eat? Don’t we take into ourselves the body, the very life, of Christ? Because there is one loaf, our many-ness becomes one-ness—Christ doesn’t become fragmented in us. Rather, we become unified in him. We don’t reduce Christ to what we are; he raises us to what he is. That’s basically what happened even in old Israel—those who ate the sacrifices offered on God’s altar entered into God’s action at the altar.

^19-22 Do you see the difference? Sacrifices offered to idols are offered to nothing, for what’s the idol but a nothing? Or worse than nothing, a minus, a demon! I don’t want you to become part of something that reduces you to less than yourself. And you can’t have it both ways, banqueting with the Master one day and slumming with demons the next. Besides, the Master won’t put up with it. He wants us—all or nothing. Do you think you can get off with anything less?

^23-24 Looking at it one way, you could say, “Anything goes. Because of God’s immense generosity and grace, we don’t have to dissect and scrutinize every action to see if it will pass muster.” But the point is not to just get by. We want to live well, but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well.

^25-28 With that as a base to work from, common sense can take you the rest of the way. Eat anything sold at the butcher shop, for instance; you don’t have to run an “idolatry test” on every item. “The earth,” after all, “is God’s, and everything in it.” That “everything” certainly includes the leg of lamb in the butcher shop. If a nonbeliever invites you to dinner and you feel like going, go ahead and enjoy yourself; eat everything placed before you. It would be both bad manners and bad spirituality to cross-examine your host on the ethical purity of each course as it is served. On the other hand, if he goes out of his way to tell you that this or that was sacrificed to god or goddess so-and-so, you should pass. Even though you may be indifferent as to where it came from, he isn’t, and you don’t want to send mixed messages to him about who you are worshiping.

^29-30 But, except for these special cases, I’m not going to walk around on eggshells worrying about what small-minded people might say; I’m going to stride free and easy, knowing what our large-minded Master has already said. If I eat what is served to me, grateful to God for what is on the table, how can I worry about what someone will say? I thanked God for it and he blessed it!

^31-33 So eat your meals heartily, not worrying about what others say about you—you’re eating to God’s glory, after all, not to please them. As a matter of fact, do everything that way, heartily and freely to God’s glory. At the same time, don’t be callous in your exercise of freedom, thoughtlessly stepping on the toes of those who aren’t as free as you are. I try my best to be considerate of everyone’s feelings in all these matters; I hope you will be, too.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Ask God, He will deliver an answer that produces His character in us to grow.  Cultivate through tilling the good soil of our souls to grow “God-confidence” for daily living.

Paul taught the Corinthians about the dangers of idol worship and petty arguments using lessons from history and faith.  In everything that we do, whether we relate to each other or worship, we ought to give glory to God. Though mindful not to offend other Believers in Jesus, we should be focused on bringing praise to God.  Jesus must be at the center of all we think, say, and do.  To do this we must BE with God and give Him all of who we are for all of who He is in us. 

Be still and know the He is God.

Be still and know God.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.

Lord,

Thank you for the common sense of spiritual wisdom that you stand ready to give us. We need you every hour of every day! Thank you for helping us make decisions with the help of your holy discernment when we are wondering what is best and will give you glory in our lives. Thank you for forgiving our sins and missteps in judgement. Thank you for answering our seeking hearts, minds, and souls with your never-ending love, mercy, and grace.

You are God.  We are not.  We are your beloved and you delight in every detail of our lives.  I am grateful for all you do for us, in and through us, and for those around us.  I am yours and I’m listening.  Lead and guide me throughout this day’s agenda for your glory and my good.

In Jesus Name, Amen