New Testament in a Year

¹⁹ So think about food that people offer to idols as a sacrifice. I am not saying that the idols are real gods. The food that people offer to them is not special food. ²⁰ But the people who offer food to idols are worshipping demons. They are not worshipping God when they do that. I do not want you to share in what they do to worship demons. ²¹ If you drink anything from the cup of demons, you can not then drink wine from the Lord's cup. If you share a meal with demons, you can not also share in the Lord's meal.

²² If we do things like that, we will cause the Lord to be angry. We should worship only him. You know that we are not stronger than he is!

²³ Some of you may say, ‘We are free to do anything that we want to do!’ But not everything is good for you to do. You may say, ‘We are free to do anything!’ But not everything helps you to be strong as a believer. ²⁴ Do not think about the things that will help you. Instead, each of you should think about what will help other people.

²⁵ You can eat any meat that people sell in the market. Do not ask questions about the meat. Do not cause your thoughts to have trouble. ²⁶ The Bible says this: ‘The earth, and everything in it, belongs to the Lord.’^[a]

²⁷ People who do not believe in Christ may ask you to eat a meal with them. Agree to go to his home, if you want to. Then you should eat whatever food they give to you. Do not ask questions about the food. Do not cause your thoughts to have trouble. ²⁸ But someone there may say to you, ‘They offered this food to an idol.’ If someone tells you that, do not eat the food. It might cause trouble to the thoughts of the person who told you. ²⁹ It may not cause your own thoughts to have trouble. But the other person may not be sure if it is right to eat that kind of food.

Perhaps you will say, ‘Why should another person's thoughts decide what is right for me? I am free to do what I want. ³⁰ I thank God for my food before I eat it. If I do that, nobody should say that it is wrong for me to eat it.’

³¹ Whatever you are doing, show that God is great. When you eat anything, or you drink anything, do it all in a way that praises God. ³² Do not cause problems for other people. Whether they are Jews or Gentiles, or people who belong to God's church, live in a way that does not cause problems for them. ³³ Copy my example. Whatever I do, I try to make other people happy. I do not try to do what will help me. Instead, I want to help other people. I live in that way so that God will save many people.