Be Lively

1 Corinthians (9:20-21)

And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, not being myself under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law, not being without law to God, but under law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law.

In Chinese Translation (歌林多前書 9)

20 向猶太人，我就作猶太人，為要得猶太人；向律法以下的人，我雖不在律法以下，還是作律法以下的人，為要得律法以下的人。
21 向沒有律法的人，我就作沒有律法的人，為要得沒有律法的人；其實我在　神面前，不是沒有律法；在基督面前，正在律法之下。

Recently I talked about Gospel with another Christian. He has strong faith. Moreover, he is very strict on many rules written in the Bible and even on the ones that are not explicitly written in the Bible but (according to him) can be logically derived based on the Bible. In some sense, I admire him for he can keep on holding some rules that few people may ever hold. And all of these rules are good, or at least moral to the common sense. At the same time, however, I feel a little bit concern because many nonbelievers feel uneasy being with him and thus his behavior becomes an obstacle for himself to reach more people.

I believe that God has given different goals for different people to accomplish HIS plan. The brother may be asked by God to be a model of live morality from whom we may witness the purity of God. Surely the reason could be like this. But I still want to share some of my taken by reading the Bible. That is, many times the Words of God are lively, which means that it is not always in the same form of display thought the spirit never changes even a little bit.

As Paul the Apostle wrote in the 1 Corinthians Chapter 9, he actively adjusted himself to be the different types of people who followed different customs so that he might approach different audience and shared the Gospel with them. There were indeed no laws on the earth that may limit him. But only the laws of heaven he never betrayed. The reason that Paul could do like that was because he was even willing to be separated from God only if such a self-sacrifice might save a man.

God's Words are lively. If the earth itself may not last forever, why shall we stick ourselves to the laws that are in the form of the earth? What we do need to keep is the spirit of the laws, which belongs to our holy father in heaven. If eating pork may save a man, don't you eat it in order to help a brother?

May the blessing from Lord Jesus Christ to all the readers of this blog in the following week!