This thought spurs from a bible study class taught by one of my pastors, Jason Miller, at Granger Community Church (GCC). He was teaching on the subject, The Tragedy of Sin - The Tension of Trust. A brief overview: Adam and Eve failed to trust God when they chose to eat of the forbidden fruit. God calls them out - gives judgment - but also provides (grace). Sin tragically separated them from God, and the trust between creator and His creation has forever since been tense and broken.

Fast Forward to the New Testament!
Verse 1, "Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge." What?! Does anybody else feel thrown by Paul's digressive nature? Maybe it's just me but, fortunately, i kept reading. Paul comes back to the this thought in verse 4 ("So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols:..") and begins this liturgical lecture on why there is only one God. Notice the theme? One source: "...no God but one...there is but one God...from whom all things came...there is but one Lord...through whom all things came..." He's talking to believers, so why the sales pitch?

Paul clearly wants to hit home on something, but before i get to that, track with me through verses 7-8, where the apostle introduces the "weak conscience" that believes eating an idol's food is an act of sacrifice (worship?). Paul warns us that "food does not bring us near to God...," which brings me back to the One Source thought. If God is our supplication, everything we "take in," everything we "eat" should substantiate the will of God, right? Paul is talking about something that was a problem for his Christian brothers of that day: being seen eating meat in public that has been sacrificed to idols. But i think the overall principle here is this: our actions in public will either cause new believers to step up for the cause of Christ or stumble back and be "fed" by other "sources."

Paul's charge that when we commit this public flounder, when we sin, our "weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge." New believers need strong role models. How often do your actions "wound their weak conscience" with compromise, lack of self control, or placing your own desires before God's? Who wants to be known as the destroyer?! Paul even says we sin against Christ in this area. Seeking other sources to please us, to satiate our temporal hunger for (Fill in the Blank), rather than seeking the source "from whom all things came and through whom we [should] live" (vs.7) will always lead to destruction.

What does this have to do with Adam and Eve? During his class, Jason Miller points out that the fruit Adam and Eve ate 'broke' the relationship they had with God. The moment they showed a lack of trust in God, they chose to seek out another source. I think it's safe to say this is the first sign in history of a weak conscience. The serpent's words caused Eve to stumble; Eve's actions (seen by Adam) caused Adam to follow suit. God arrives on the scene and their weak (guilty) conscience is made public; they hide in shame. You could cut the tension with a knife.

I like the way Paul puts it: Exercise your freedom so as not to become a stumbling block to the weak (vs.9). If i want to be a conduit for the message, for the love of Jesus, i can't have a weak conscience. I can't accept the "fruit" of idols or seek to live for other "sources." God is calling me to live for Him and Him alone. I must be publicly conscious of my affect on others, exercising my freedom in a way that says this: Nothing compares to the greatness of knowing the ONE God, the one Lord, Jesus Christ, the first and only source in my life.

*Song to consider: "Nothing Compares" by Third Day

1 Corinthians 8:1-13