PODCAST
Reading the Labels
August 31st, 2017
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
My mother and father often went grocery shopping together. My mom is from the “get in, get out, and go home” school of shopping. My father enjoyed shopping for the experience and interaction. Dad would pause, read labels, and talk to store workers or other shoppers. Mom would have her shopping cart full, her shopping list marked off, and be ready to go. Dad would still be in aisle 4 reading the ingredients on a can of soup. Mom would find him and simply say, “I’m ready, Bud. Let’s go.” And they would head to the check-out together. Their love endured their differences.
Some of the early believers had scruples against eating meat sacrificed to idols; they read the labels. Others simply figured meat was meat, and idols weren’t real anyway, so “Why worry?” Yet, they all worshiped the same God and served the same Lord. Their love for one another would not allow them to do anything that would cause their “brother or sister to fall into sin” (1 Corinthians 8:13). Patience and kindness flowing from a heart of love can help overcome our differences.
Author: Duane Brush
