“'All things are lawful,' but not all things are helpful. 'All things are lawful,' but not all things build up."

(1 Corinthians 10:23)

I may be perfectly free myself to do many things, the doing of which might hurt my brother and wound his conscience. Love will gladly surrender the little indulgence so that my brother may be saved from temptation. There are many questions which are easily settled by this principle. So, too, there are many forms of recreation which in themselves might be harmless and, under certain circumstances, unobjectionable, but they have become associated with worldliness and godlessness and have proved snares and temptations to many a younger Christian. In that case, the law of love would lead me to avoid them, discountenance them and in now way give encouragement to others to participate in them.

It is just in these things that are not required of us by absolute rules, but are the impulses of a thoughtful love, that the highest qualities of Christian character show themselves. It is in these that the most delicate shades of Christian love are manifested.

Simpson, A.B. “Simpson Devotional: 1 Corinthians 10:23.”

The Alliance, 9 Sept. 2020,