“Each one of you should stay the way you were when God called you, for you are free, so make good use of your freedom,” 1 Corinthians 7:20.
Paul tells the church to abide in the same calling wherein you were called. In Christ we are free to serve the Lord as servants of the Most High. Let every man where he was called abide within God and live the life in anointing. In other words we must have a firm commitment to abide in God as the church. What does it mean to have a firm commitment of faith?
- Pray to God even if you have to repent.
- Study His word and grow in it daily to fill your mind and transform your life.
- Trust and depend on the Lord for all things.
- Be open (sensitive) to the Holy Spirit as it gives you insight, instructions, and directions.
- Work at living this saved life by having a consciousness of who you are in God.
So remember that your calling in God through Jesus Christ has made you free from your old thoughts, speech, and actions for a greater purpose and behavior in God. Paul speaks to the ‘single saints’ in the Lord about being faithful to God. Single saints, keep yourself in the calling of God, so you will obtain the mercy of the Lord to be faithful. Don’t have ‘trouble in your flesh’ but rejoice in the Lord. Because your time is to care for the things that belong to the Lord—so you may please Him. Stay holy in your body and in your mind. Have the power of God over your own will as you do the will of God.
Remember that 2024 is your year of unlimited breakthrough, so you must hold to God’s standards for spiritual growth and living. In chapter eight, Paul looks at the food offerings that were offered up to idols in many pagan temples. Food and animals were brought to the pagan temples, killed before an idol as part of a pagan religious ceremony, then eaten at a feast as a sign of their commitment to there idol gods. Paul looks at how these people have their own religious knowledge and identity in the world, and do not look to the Abrahamic God, the Creator who made heaven and earth. Instead they look to something or someone else (idols) as if they were god—not having an authentic love for the true God, but only a ‘form’ of godliness. They, then, deny God’s power thereof—having their own ‘knowledge’ and are not drawn to God in love, but are moved completely away from God. They live a life puffed up in self, having no respect for God or each other.
“Self knowledge is puffed up in pride,” 1 Corinthians 8:1.
This is arrogance, destruction, and a downfall.
“You know that pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall,” Proverbs 16:18.
As the born-again, the knowledge you have comes from God not self. The love you have for Him is from Him. This knowledge you have from God in love is not to puff you up—rather it builds you up to fulfill God’s plan and purpose.
