If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. – 1 Corinthians 9:12

Today's Scripture Reading (February 16, 2021): 1 Corinthians 8 & 9

Athenian (Greek) historian and general Thucydides, in his "History of the Peloponnesian War," observes that "Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must." The idea still holds for what is right in our society, but it also holds for what we call rights in our culture. We have a thing about rights that I sometimes don't understand. For instance, we believe that we have the right to say whatever we want on our social media pages, even if it is a lie. Those who try to explain the lie are often maligned. Some boldly hang on to their rights, believing that "fact checking" is nothing more than a new form of censorship. But is that true? Do I really have a right to say whatever is on my mind, even if what I want to say is untrue or steps on someone else's rights?

What rights are important to you? The truth again often relates to money and power. The more power you have or the richer you are, the more privileges you likely believe that you possess. And even inside the Christian Church, we are a people who staunchly stand in defense of our rights. We have a right to protest against other religions. We have a right to demand that the world shapes up to our beliefs. I often hear the complaint that other faiths have rights, but our privileges are continually getting stepped on. It is time for the Christian church, the belief system upon which most Western nations were built, to stand up and demanded that our rights be protected.

But I often wonder if our "demands" would fall on deaf ears if Paul were with us. Paul had already urged caution to the Corinthian Church concerning their rights. "Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak" (1 Corinthians 8:9). You have rights, but they take second place to our interactions with society at large. As soon as our rights become problematic to our culture, as soon as they become ridiculed on late-night television, as soon as our rights compromise our Christian belief, it is our rights that should be placed on the back burner. It is not that, at that moment, we should stand up and demand the culture give to us the respect that we somehow think that we deserve.

Paul stresses the idea here. Yes, the Apostle confirms that he has rights. Paul possessed rights that he did not use because he was afraid that his rights might become the enemy of the Gospel of Love that he taught and professed. Love always trumps rights.

It still does. Do we have rights? Of course, we do. But our rights in this world take second seat to loving the world. Any right that might interfere with our message of love needs to be set aside. After all, we are not the masters of the world; we are the servants. I know that is not a popular thought in our culture, which is rights conscious. But Christian love is a fragile thing, and it can often be broken by something as simple as our rights.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 10