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1 Corinthians 8:11-13  And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.  Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.  Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

As we read this part of Paul’s letter to the Church at Corinth, we don’t need to understand in detail the issue that had risen among them in relation to the efficacy of eating food/meat ‘offered to idols’.  This is for two reasons: firstly, in our Western society we buy our meat from a butcher or a supermarket and it all comes from the abattoir usually without any intermediate complications; and, secondly, what is important is not the details but the general principle Paul is conveying, and we can apply this principle in any and every situation of believers meeting in communion with each other, including our own.

The principle is that our lives are not our own; we belong to Christ because he has bought us with his own precious blood.  This means that whenever we are trying to discern what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ when faced with a decision in a particular situation, as well as considering what the Scriptures say about it in itself (“Is this in accordance with God’s revealed Truth?”) we must also ask, “What effect will my action have on a fellow-believer, especially if he or she is relatively new to the faith?”.  This is the reasoning I have used to abstain from the consumption of alcohol.  My experience with many people who are alcoholics is that they need all the help they can get to avoid the pressure of their addiction.  My own grandfather ruined his otherwise successful business, his family and his life, through alcoholism, and he was the last one to realise he had a problem, and then it was too late!

I am confirmed in my decision to abstain by a story told by the late Rev. Ray King:  He was approached by a man whom he did not know.  “Are you the Rev. Ray King?”  “Yes”.  “You saved my life, thank you!”  “But I don’t know you.”  “I was a guest at a wedding reception where alcohol was flowing freely and I was struggling with my addiction, so I said to myself, ‘If the Reverend Mr King has a drink I’ll take that as a sign that it’s OK for me to have one, and if he doesn’t, I won’t.’  I watched you like a hawk and you drank tomato juice all night!”  Ray knew nothing about this until this man spoke to him many years later.

Now, I know there are probably many other things in my life and behaviour that diminish the brightness of my halo – perhaps riding a motorbike? – but I do try always to assess my actions in the light of Paul’s statement, “If X makes my brother stumble, I will never X, lest I make my brother stumble”, even when there is nothing wrong with ‘X’ in itself.  I am also guided by Paul’s earlier words to the Corinthians, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.  So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:20) I rejoice in the freedom I have in Christ, but it is freedom, not to do whatever I like, but to submit to him in total obedience as his slave!  “Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free, force me to render up my sword and I shall conqueror be.  I sink in life’s alarms when by myself I stand; imprison me within thine arms and strong shall be my hand.  My will is not mine own till thou hast made it thine, if it would reach a monarch’s throne it must its crown resign; it only stands unbent amid the clashing strife when on thy bosom it has leant, and found in thee its life.” (George Matheson)

– Bruce Christian