Right vs. Privilege

I have learned a lot of things from working in ministry for the past two years. But something that I feel has come full circle and finally at the end of my time working at Mizzou and Parkade, I am like ahah, I get this God...or at least I think I do, lol. For a long time in my Christian journey I had the mentality that b/c I had been saved and receive Gods grace daily that I was "free" in Jesus and had the "right" to do things b/c He died in my place for my sins. But thinking about things more and looking more intensely at the life Jesus led, I am more convinced that we actually lost all rights when we surrendered our lives to Jesus and only have the privilege to live in freedom.

But what does that freedom look like? Does it mean that I'm free to do whatever the heck I want, when I want it? I don't think so. Especially not for Christ-followers in leadership roles. Paul speaks about this in 1 Corinthians 8 when he is addressing the issue of eating meat. The passage reads this (NLT)

¹ Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. ² Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. ³ But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.^a]">[a]

⁴ So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. ⁵ There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. ⁶ But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.

⁷ However, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated. ⁸ It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t lose anything if we don’t eat it, and we don’t gain anything if we do.

⁹ But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. ¹⁰ For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? ¹¹ So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer^b]">[b] for whom Christ died will be destroyed. ¹² And when you sin against other believers^c]">[c] by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. ¹³ So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble.

I highlighted the verses that really stood out to me. But it seems to me that Paul is suggesting that we actually have no right to our "meat" but instead should be willing to give it up. I think if we look at the life of Jesus we see this modeled too. He came and served and served people who had problems but lived a righteous life. And He showed us that really our only right is to die.

The problem isn't solved there though. This brings out a whole pleothra of questions....such as how do you avoid being legalistic? What does it mean to cause someone to stumble? Thought are appreciated. And hopefully this all connected and made sense. Im extremely exhausted.