Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. For he built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was one hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams that were on the pillars, fifteen in a row. There were beams in three rows, and window was facing window in three ranks. All the doors and posts were made square with beams; and window was facing window in three ranks. He made the hall of pillars. Its length was fifty cubits and its width thirty cubits, with a porch before them, and pillars and a threshold before them. He made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment; and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor. His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the same construction. He made also a house for Pharaoh’s daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), like this porch.”
(1 Kings 7:1-8)

“Now concerning things sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. But if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he doesn’t yet know as he ought to know. But anyone who loves God is known by him. Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For though there are things that are called “gods”, whether in the heavens or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “lords”— yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.”
(1 Corinthians 8:1-6)

The Temple building was finished before Solomon turned his hand to anything else. Once the Lord’s work was done, the king did his own. For himself and for his wife, the Egyptian princess. A classic case of I have something, you should have one of your own. What’s good for me is good for you. I believe this was the first warning sign of what became a major downfall of Solomon. I believe it was the principle that his future wives exploited to get him to build them temples for their idols. Since HE had a temple to worship HIS God, THEY should have temples to worship THEIR gods. I’m sure that’s not how he saw it. He would have seen it as giving her a house worthy of her position in life. Giving her something he knew she would enjoy. Showing her that he cared about her, her needs, and her desires. Nothing wrong with that concept. But we always need to be careful how we do things, and I don’t think Solomon was as time went on.

Paul warns us about appearances and motives. When someone is secure in who they are in Jesus, there is a lot of freedom there. There is freedom to know what can and can’t affect us when we’re in Jesus. When the cross is our identity (the saved and saving blood of Jesus – John 15:5),  what is going to be able to touch us? After all, it is no longer really us but Jesus who they encounter when they come at us (Galatians 2:20). But if you AREN’T secure in your knowledge of who you are in Jesus, you’re completely unaware of the protections and security that God provides. When you’re not talking to Holy Spirit and constantly checking in with Him about what you should and shouldn’t be doing – using the Word as your guide; you can easily get yourself into trouble. Paul was exhorting the believers in Corinth – a place FULL of pagan rites and rituals – to make sure they weren’t using their freedom in Jesus in a way that made it seem that everything is condoned under the cross. Not because freedom in Jesus is bad, but because maturity in Jesus takes time and we need to be careful not to give the wrong impression to other still-maturing believers. You may go somewhere to do a completely innocent thing, but they might see that and go to the same place and get snagged by something ungodly that you never would have touched. We are to encourage one another, not lay down traps that can later snag either ourselves or anyone else.

Summary

We’re to be salty and stay lit for Jesus. To be different. We should be a witness with our actions and always be seeking God’s heart as to what we should be doing – not doing what we want and assuming it’ll be fine because we can handle it. This does NOT mean we need to be kept hostage by what other people can handle. But when you are in an environment of ungodliness, it is important to make sure we’re modelling God’s moral character. It really means we need to lean into Holy Spirit. We need to do God’s things, God’s way. And then we need to do our things God’s way. He’ll let you know if you’re unintentionally laying a stumbling block down. He’ll let you know how to enjoy that good thing his way. God isn’t keeping us from good things. He WANTS to get good things into our hands. But He wants us to have the right heart about it AND to make sure we have the backs of the other believers around us. We’re a witness to the world, but a support system of love to the believers in our world.