Its my prerogative . . . .

²³ “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. ²⁴ No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.  
1 Corinthians 10:23

"It's my prerogative . . ." sang Bobby Brown

And in Christ, with my freedom in Him . . . It's my prerogative!  

But WAIT ONE MINUTE!  What exactly does this freedom in Him mean?  What exactly can I do?  What can I not do?  Most people note Christianity as a religion of do's and don't s and in some ways it does appear to be . . . and then I run across this verse, nesetled in the midst of a discussion of food -- whether to eat or not and about our conscience in doing so.  Go back and read 1 Corinthians 10:18-31.

It is important in understanding a passage that you know its background.  See the Corinthian church had a little problem.  A lot of them had been converted from worshiping foreign gods and refused to eat meat any more, in particular because the meat was sacrificed to those gods.  Others had been converted and still ate.  Ufortunately the best meat restaurant in town was at the temple.  On one side was the temple and the other the best little steak house in town -- with ONE door which you entered in from the street.  From the street you could not tell which way the person going in went, whether to the temple or to the restaurant.  So came the rub . . .
  
Since a believer could not tell which side you went into from the outside, other believers were thinking those going to the restaurant were going to the temple.  Backsliding christians!  And how could they eat meat which was sacrificed to an alien god!  

So Paul writes about the freedom in Christ.  I can be a vegetarian or a carnivore.  I can drink wine or abstain from it (notice I did NOT say I can get drunk . . unless I am perishing of course .... "give strong drink to him who is perishing and about to die" -- look it up!).  I can go to the movies or I could not.  I can dance or I can abstain from dancing.  I can do . . . so many things or NOT do so many things.  I have freedom!

Yes I have freedom.  Freedom which is supposed to be ruled by wisdom.  Beyond asking yourself if the matter you are considering is blatantly prohibited by scripture . . . ask yourself the following:

Is it beneficial?  Is it constructive?  Does it meet the test of seeking the good of others?

Beneficial to who?  Constructive to who?

Trained in the law I hate it when an instruction is ambiguous.  Your honor it was beneficial to me to dance the night away.  I got much needed exercise.  It was constructive to me as it helped my heart grow strong.  Never mind that I was staying at friends house where his parents view dancing as being straight from the pit of HELL!  It was beneficial to me!  It was constructive to me!
  
If the only test were those two -- beneficial or constructive, I would be doing the two step to heaven . . . but it is not.  Does what I am doing in line with seeking the good of others?
A qualitative examination which puts others before me.  Would my dancing the night away prevent me from ministering to the family where I am staying?  

Yuck!  Where this is going . . . well it kinda sucks!  Yeah, to be quite honest it does . . . and then  . . . it doesn't.

See God is not about Murphy having a good time in life.  He is, however, about me having fullness of life . . . abundance of life . . . a completely, and fully holy life, integrated in His will.  It is like we are a part of a greater classic art piece or painting than ourselves.  If the colors are not right the whole picture sucks.  If the cut is not precise, well the whole statute fails to take form.  But when they are right . . . well a masterpiece is borne and all benefit from its beauty.

It may be my prerogative to do . . . but it may not be beneficial or constructive . . . And in seeking the good of others . . .  we find it being beneficial and constructive to me and others.

Read the whole passage, to the end of the chapter.  I know it will take a few times to read it to get the understanding.  It is God who is in control and He desires that we exercise our prerogative to follow His direction, His spirit.  

Its my prerogative.  Its my choice to follow HIS prerogative.

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