Bible Challenge 28

1 Corinthians 10:31-33

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

Do all to the glory of God.

Don’t just stop and read over those few words in verse 31. That is an extremely difficult command to follow. Do everything to the glory of God? Even eating food? Even in how we watch a football game?

If you really think about your life, what you do each day, doing everything for the glory of God becomes the hardest command to follow. But it is also the most fruitful and the most beneficial way to live our lives.

So how do we actually do everything, even the littlest things, for God’s glory. Think about it like this. If X unbelieving person was watching me do this thing right now, and they asked me why I was doing it, would I be able to answer that I am doing this thing for this reason for God’s glory.

A practical example is Paul’s example of eating. How do you eat for the glory of God? Wouldn’t you eat healthily, to take care of the body God gave you so you can use it for His glory in how you help and treat your family, what church activity you need to have energy to be involved in, etc. Hopefully that principle is helpful for you.

There is one other thing I want you to catch from these verses, look at verse 33. Is Paul really saying he is trying to please everyone in everything he does? Isn’t that a hopeless task? In a literal sense yes, but Paul isn’t talking about what we would “people-pleasing”, where we want people to be happy with us and to not think negatively of us.

What Paul is saying is that he tries his best to meet people where they are and how they are, without sinning himself of course. So if you want to follow Paul’s example and meet people where they are, you may have to miss watching a football game, or eat somewhere or something you don’t want to, or engage in a hobby you don’t enjoy. But not merely out of selflessness, but because by doing so you are trying to see MANY be saved.

Isn’t that what you want, what we all should want? To see God’s Kingdom grow and to see people be saved?

So why are we unwilling to take step one and meet people where they are, even if it means giving up our desires and some comforts.