"Everything is lawful for me, but not everything is beneficial."

"Everything is lawful for me, but not everything is beneficial." (1 Cor 6:12)

Boy this quote really hits home. If ever there is a quote that flies in the face of today's society it's that one. It seems our society lives in an almost completely opposite way to this quote, doesn't it? Think about it. Peoples' sense of discretion seems to have faded. People used to think about the consequences of their actions. Now, if it feels good at that moment just do it.

I remember watching an episode of the popular TV show "Friends" once. A character on the show met someone on the internet & had great chemistry with her. He started to want to date her but found out (from her) that she was married. A little bummed out, he told another character on the show & said he was not going to pursue a relationship. But the other character chastized him. She (a woman no less!) said something like: "what if she's the one for you?" and ended up talking him into pursing a relationship with a married woman which he did. What message does that say? And remember how popular this show was and how many impressionable teenagers watched it. This is the furthest thing from the quote above.

We wonder sometimes why our life is in the shape it is. "What went wrong?" we ask. I submit that we need to be honest, hard as it may be, and take a real good look at our own actions. As paster Ed Smith recently said "alot of little yeses can lead to big messes". We are so caught up in doing what feels good that we tend to ignore that little part of us that tells us to wait and think. Realize that the world we're in is changing and we need to be more diligent than ever because discretion is simply not even condoned anymore.

This is more & more true right here in America. We have many wonderful rights as Americans. We have free speech, the right to bear arms, we can gamble legally in certain places, we can drink if we're over 21 and many more. But that doesn't mean that some of these are beneficial to us. Remember as Christians we have a duty to be obedient and what we even just expose ourselves to can tempt us in ways we may not be able to handle.

For example, gambling is legal in some areas. But think about how gambling can ruin your life, family, savings, self-esteem; it can truly be ugly. When you start to expose yourself to it, you get comfortable and it can subtly suck you in. Realize no one starts out wanting to be a gambling adict. They all start out very innocently. And it's more & more prevelant. In fact you don't even have to leave your home. Poker on TV is very popular. People actually will tune in to watch other people gambling!

But let's take something more grey. I'll not go into great depth on the book The DaVinci Code but even though, yes, Dan Brown can write and publish that book in this country. And, yes as Americans, we also have the 100% right to read this. But ask yourself, what benefit does it do us as Christians to read blasphemy? I know many Christians that read that book. The 'logic' is that it's interesting fiction and it means you have an 'open mind'. I wonder what that means. I think people want to be included in the general population as far as what people are talking about & that book was very popular. Sure, it's fiction and says lies about the Bible and history but read it anyway. But what happens is that that 'open mindedness' begins to lead to doubt after reading a book like that. And doubt is surely the enemy's favorite trait in humans.

Do you see now? Just because it's there, it's lawful (to man anyway), just because you're watching & not partaking doesn't mean it's OK. It's time to wake up! You can be better! You can decide to not "follow". The line above says " Everything is lawful for me, but not everything is beneficial." But the next line says "Everything is lawful to me, but I will not let myself be dominated by anything". (1 Cor 6:13) Now go out & don't let yourself be dominated by anything but the Lord!
God Bless You!
To Him Be The Glory!