Today I want to talk to you about something I notice actually throughout my walk as a believer. It’s the question about: ‘To do or not to do’. Often, once we become Christians we experience some internal struggle about what activities we can or cannot now attend, about the places we think we can or cannot go to, about the things we can or cannot do, etc. Should I or should I not? Can I or can I not? But I believe, rather than asking ourselves these kinds of questions, what we need to be asking is: Am I part of a Kingdom that represents LOVE or am I not? If we call ourselves believers, the answer is “yes”! The Kingdom of Heaven to which we belong totally represents love and therefore asks that we give expression to our life in a way that shows this love. We learn in our Kingdom Life Map, the Bible, that: ‘all things are permisable to me but not all things are profitable, all things are permisable to me, but I will not let any of these things enslave me.’ So, how do you react when there is inner conflict about whether or not you feel you can or cannot do something? Ask yourself: Am I being lorded over by the things I want, or am I allowing God to be Lord over my life? If for whatever reason I don’t get to do what I want, does it make me miserable? Has doing what I want become a life or death situation to me? Am I in a bad mood the rest of the day if I don’t get to do what I want to? If I am, then it does show that I am a slave to that particular thing.
Let’s look at how we can establish ourselves when these kinds of situations present themselves: As a believer I am free, but I am not meant to use my freedom to just do everything I want. God calls me to live a life of love. For example, If I know someone at table with me is offended if I drink a glass of wine, what is my reaction? Do I say: “I will drink wine if I want to drink wine, I don’t care what you or anyone else thinks.” Is that love? Are you (re)presenting the love of the Kingdom you belong to? The loving thing to do is to say: “You know, I enjoy a glass of wine from time to time but if it is offensive to you, I will let it pass today.” This shows you are walking in love and not being lorded over and eslaved either by yourself or by the things you think you must have or do. Be able to say “no” to things, even if they are things you REALLY want.
So whenever there is conflict going on in your heart, tell yourself: It is permissable to me, but it may not be profitable. It is permissable to me, but I will not allow it to lord over me. I am not willing to compromise my relationship with God and relationships with people around me, just to be able to have my way. I allow my life to be guided by love and have the ability to say: “It’s important to me, but if it is offensive to you, then I don’t need to”, I will not give this thing the abliltiy to slave over me. I choose LOVE!