She told me that she forgave me, but I didn’t know that I offended her. “You got offended by that?” I was very young in my faith and frankly was floored! To be honest, her being offended was offensive!

But then a short time later Lorie and I determined we were going to homeschool our children and thirty years ago it wasn’t mainstream yet. We didn’t know where to start.

Some friends at church took interest in our plight and invited us to a weekend conference full of instruction, vendors, curriculum and good clean fun.

The first evening they invited us to their room for some fellowship and a movie.

Ten minutes into that movie, I looked at Lorie and we politely left the room. We were very young in our faith and were floored.

Frankly, they were too! But they were much more mature in the faith and handled us with such amazing charity.

They weren’t offended by our actions they were concerned because their liberty had crossed a line.

Some good messages preached at our church reminded me that there’s a line we all have regarding what we feel is within the bounds of our Christian liberty.

It’s not my place to tell you where the line should be. I have trouble finding it myself sometimes. 

But charity mixed with our personal lines of liberty goes a long way. These have saved me from trouble and might be worth pondering or even sharing with others you know:

1.    If it controls or corrupts me it’s not true liberty it’s a trap (1 Cor 6:12, 10:23).

2.    If it causes others to fumble, I won’t flaunt it in front of them (Rom. 14:13-18, 1 Cor. 8:9).

3.    If I can’t ask God to bless it and bring Himself glory by it, I say goodbye to it (1 Cor 10:31-33).

4.    If it clearly violates Scripture or affects my walk with God, for me it’s not liberty, it’s against the law (1 John 3:4, Rom 13:14).

5.    If it causes me to question whether it’s right or provokes my conscience, others may, but I cannot (Rom 14:22-23, Acts 24:16).

6.    If it appears misaligned with a biblical worldview or darkens the character of my testimony, I avoid it; it’s just not worth it (1 Th 5:22, 1 Jn 2:15-17).

7.    If it serves me but not others and is more about what I like instead of showing love to God and others, I already know the answer (Gal 5:13-14). 

When expression of my liberties call for restraint it’s not time for complaint.

Christian liberty and charity are a really big deal. Some offenses are just unavoidable, but most of them aren’t.

You won’t cross a line if you choose to start and end with Rom. 14:12. 

If you have some other things that help you to not cross a line or want to comment on this post, I’d love to hear from you. Reply here. 

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