Today in the One Year Bible, we read from Leviticus 11:1-12:8. Moses is giving the Hebrews the food laws: what foods they can and can't eat. And the Jewish people took this very seriously... if you read the book of Maccabees, you'll see that people even chose death rather than defile themselves by eating pork!
And yet we eat pork today. This brings up and important aspect of our spiritual lives. As we grow as Christians, we are permitted more and more freedoms. To the point that Paul said that ALL things were permissible for him. But not all things benefited him.
We can now eat pork. If someone sacrificed meat to an idol, we could eat that too. Many of the restrictions in the OT law are no longer applicable for us.
And you'll notice that many people, as they grow in their spiritual lives, give up "secular music" and only listen to Christian music. For some people, they never "grow out of" that phase, and it benefits them to only listen to sacred music for life.
But for others, we grow out of that phase and begin to see His truth and love and beauty in all forms of art, even the kind that is produced for reasons other than praise.
For all of us, Jesus gives freedom. We should choose the things that bring us closer to Him, not because He commands us, but because we love Him.
God, thanks for teaching us that all things are permissible, but not everything brings us closer to You.
1 comment:
Amen
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