Heart or Stomach

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

HEART OR STOMACH

1 Cor 8:7-8

7 But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

NIV

We are still in the midst of Paul’s instructions regarding idols and lords with special attention to eating food that has been sacrificed to some idol. Why would it make any difference because idols or those false gods of Corinth has no meaning whatsoever to those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, or at least they shouldn’t? The point here is that whether they eat food sacrificed to idols or they don’t, neither choice gets them any closer to God. Is there anything in our world today that could come close to this teaching? It would seem food is not the issue but perhaps drink might. Although there is nothing in the scripture that forbids the drinking of wine, there are those who think abstaining from wine makes them a better Christian, or perhaps get them closer to God, in a sense. It is true that getting drunk is not right and the scripture does speak to that issue in that we should be drunk in the Spirit rather than with wine. Drunkenness is a state of being out of control of our faculties which is how we should be in the Spirit. That is the Spirit should be in control. But the point is that abstaining from wine entirely or drinking some wine does not get us any closer to God. It is not what goes into our bodies that defiles us, as Jesus taught. Food and drink do not enter our hearts, but our stomachs and leave by other means. But what is our heart is what Jesus says makes us unclean. He gives a list that includes evil thoughts, sexual immorally, theft, murder, or hatred, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, envy, or jealously, slander, or gossip, arrogance, or being puffed up, and folly or egoism. That is quite a list of evil that can exist in our hearts which makes us unclean, but some pay way too much attention to whether we drink wine or not, however, pay no attention to how much food they eat, being puffed up in another sense, which is thought of in scripture as being a glutton. It makes no sense to pay attention to whether we eat or drink or don’t eat or drink when there is so much in our heart that we need to be attentive to. What good is it to abstain from wine or certain foods when we are all puffed up with pride, or we gossip or have a desire to store up wealth for ourselves, or any of those things Jesus spoke about being within our heart? Now, have we been forgiven for all those sinful thoughts? Yes, but then that would also mean we have been forgiven, if we even need to be, for eating or drinking that which enters our stomach rather than our heart. We can see the foolishness of this, yet if we go on, the idea is that if we have a weaker brother or sister that does not understand the truth and thinks that eating food sacrificed to idols is wrong, then we should be respectful of that weaker brother or sister. So we need to be careful not to offend that weaker believer by impressing our freedom upon them, and exercise our freedom in their presence, perhaps weakening them even more, but we will get to that later. For now, we simply need to see the truth in this matter, food and drink do not make us unclean, but what is in our heart can. It comes down to heart or stomach.