“You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.” 1 Corinthians 10:21
Paul had just finished saying that meat offered to idols as a sacrifice is nothing. The problem is not in the meat, but in what the meat is being offered to. It is the purpose of the meat that is wrong. Now he is saying that one should not eat the meat, not because the meat is bad, but because the reason the meat was used was for a sacrifice to a demon.
As has been stated many times, sacrifices of meat to idols is not a common practice in the USA, though it still is in some parts of the world. Although meat is not sacrificed, there are many other things being sacrificed to the gods of this world. It is very seldom that someone would call the god a “demon”, but that is what the things of this world are. The demons are behind them.
The demons of today are the greed behind fame, fortune, and status that people are seeking favor of. Many just cannot live without the newest item, or with the right status in society, or more money in the bank. They are willing to do whatever it takes to get to the next level. They will sacrifice family, friends, time, energy, and God to get what they want.
Often this happens with people in the church. They seek God on Sunday, then they go out and do the same things the people of the world are doing. They tend to seek the same things.
There is nothing wrong with having fame, fortune and a good status. What can be wrong is how you get these. Who are you seeking to give or get you these things? Are you sitting with the sinners to gain your fortune or are you sitting at God’s table?
Do not go back and forth from God’s table to the devil’s table. They are separate tables. Do not try to have the best of both worlds. Be in this world, but not a part of this world.
I pray today that you will sit at God’s table each day; that you will not participate in this world’s ways; that God will show you what He wants you to have and eat; and that God will help you be His witness in the world.
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