“And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.”
We don’t know anything and the minute you do, you can rest assured you don’t!
The context of this passage is in light of offending Christian brothers. He says in the same chapter, “And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?”
You and your knowledge are great, you know what you’re doing and why it’s fine. But you and your knowing can cause a brother to perish, to be destroyed. Wow.
We demand our rights. We justify our actions. We know all the verses that give the official OK to our desires. We argue. We fight. We adamantly press on. And people get hurt. People die. Some even go to hell because of what we do.
But hey, as long as I can keep doing my thing, who cares?
God does.
How many of our actions, our arguments, our ideas should be put away so as not to cause offense? Which of our theological bones to pick should we let go? How much of what we say and do should be left unsaid and undone?
Paul concludes this chapter with “Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.”
Yet how many of us would pull out the verse “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused” and go on eating because we know? Do we hold our views so tightly that we would never be as one under the law to win them? Do we shove the “You need to learn grace” line on them because we know? Or do we use the “you need to be under my law cuz you’re getting carried away” line because we know?
The same standard you use to judge others will be meted out to you.
Man, we should shut-up more.
anti-itch meditation 