All things...

While driving on Sunday evening, on the way to the 3rd week of our Believing God Bible study, I was reminded of this verse:

"All things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial."

I had not thought of it nor read it in a long time, so it had to be the Holy Spirit who dropped it into my mind. Honestly, I don't know exactly where it is, but I feel like it's in one of the Corinthian letters, since Paul was talking to some pretty fleshly people (you know, like me and many of us). And I was in the middle of some sort of lively complaint about how thoughtless some people I live with can be, and how sorry I am for myself. Poor me, I just try to do all the things that have to be done, and no one cares. Suddenly this sentence came to me, and I was convicted. I couldn't get it out of my head, either. I have been meditating on it for a couple of days now, and I am believing it is affecting my thinking.

All things are permissible.

It means there's no condemnation for anything I do. It means there is freedom in Christ. It means I can do anything, go anywhere, eat anything, drink anything, listen to anything, watch anything, use my time and resources in any way, practice my faith in any way. I am allowed. It means I don't have to let anyone else judge me--or let their judgment of me have any effect, at least.

But not all things are beneficial.

I am allowed to goof off on the computer, but is it beneficial? I am allowed to stay up until 1 AM reading my library book, but is it beneficial? I am allowed to eat cupcakes for breakfast, but is it beneficial? I have been asking myself if something is beneficial quite a lot lately. And there are many variations on that question: Beneficial to whom? Is it the most beneficial? Is it beneficial to my spiritual development?

May my decisions be based more often on what is beneficial, not on what is permissible.