For the Gray Areas

“‘Everything is permissible’-but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible’-but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.” 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 NIV

So how do you distinguish whether or not to partake in a gray area? Ask yourself three questions: Is this beneficial?, Is this constructive?, and Does this contribute to the good of others?
      If something is beneficial, there will be advantages to doing it and it will be helpful. In looking at the first question, we really need to avoid the habit or temptation to merely think of the short term effects. While something may not immediately have a negative affect on you, there may be long term consequences. Weigh the potential costs against the activity and, in light of the costs, take time to discern whether the activity is truly worth doing.
      So, maybe there are some benefits to what you will do. Don’t stop there, not everything that is harmful or wicked lacks benefits. Move on to the second question: Is it constructive? Will what you’re doing help to improve or develop something positive (in God’s sight)?
      Will it help to improve and develop you as a man or woman of God? Will it make your relationship with Him stronger?
      This sounds a lot like the first question, but it goes further. I think of benefits more as something you can gain from an activity. But, if something is constructive I see it more as progress. Don’t just think of gaining things you don’t have when looking at gray areas. Think also of what the consequences (negative or positive) will be for what you already have.
      Now to the third and final question: Does what you are doing or will do contribute to the good of others?
      It’s important to keep others in mind. Maybe what you are doing isn’t harmful to you, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be harmful to someone else. What consequence will what you are doing hold for others?
      Don’t think you’ll go unpunished for how you affect other people. God places importance on others. The second commandment (of two that Jesus teaches) is to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).
      If we are truly living according to God’s standard, then we shouldn’t be harming people or being stumbling blocks to them. Our goal should be to live in a way that glorifies God and to see others get saved.