Looking at it one way, you could say, "Anything goes. Because of God's immense generosity and grace, we don't have to dissect and scrutinize every action to see if it will pass muster." But the point is not to just get by. We want to live well, but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well.

So eat your meals heartily, not worrying about what others say about you—you're eating to God's glory, after all, not to please them. As a matter of fact, do everything that way, heartily and freely to God's glory. At the same time, don't be callous in your exercise of freedom, thoughtlessly stepping on the toes of those who aren't as free as you are. I try my best to be considerate of everyone's feelings in all these matters; I hope you will be, too.

The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. Most of all, try to proclaim his truth. If you praise him in the private language of tongues, God understands you but no one else does, for you are sharing intimacies just between you and him. But when you proclaim his truth in everyday speech, you're letting others in on the truth so that they can grow and be strong and experience his presence with you.

excerpts from 1 Corinthians, The Message

Father God, help me get over feeling offended. I confess to you that my pride has gotten in the way of my fellowship with at least two specific people. I repent of that pride. I have no rights that I can't surrender. I surrender them to YOU now, and choose to act humbly until I FEEL humble. Submit until I feel submissive. Respect until I feel respectful. Lord, please honor this effort and help me with it. But above all, I want to LOVE. Without love, submission, respect, and humility don't mean squat. Help me love them as YOU love them. Love them through me, beyond what I'm capable of, extravagantly, without limit. Your love has no bounds, no flaws, no perversions.

Thank You for Your Word!!! It is life! Forgive me for taking it for granted so often, and for choosing other things before it. Nothing else has the capability of refreshing and enlightening my soul. What a gift!

You are so good. So God. I love You.