This is sort of a continuation of the Tasks for the Week. The thought occurred to me so I wrote it down in the journal I took with me. Later, after I got home from work, I wrote some more. Then, it struck me that I should share it, so here it is.
9Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
10nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
11Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
12All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
13Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.
14Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.
15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!
16Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.”
17But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.
19Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
1 Corinthians 6:9–19 (NASB95)
The key verse is verse 12, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable.” The King James hits a little differently. Since that’s what I study, you’re afflicted by it here.
12All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
1 Corinthians 6:12 (KJV 1900)
I had a thought today.
A new book idea struck me, but a preparedness book on being ready for the calamities life might throw at us. I thought it would be good to document my prepper mindset, seeing as I’m teaching an introduction to preparedness at work now. My boss intends to list me on the store website as an official instructor. Given I have a two-hour presentation on the subject, I’m now an official instructor on the topic, and I’m a writer, I thought maybe a book documenting my mindset as I present it would not be out of line. That got me thinking.
As I mentally brainstormed the idea, various scriptures popped into my head that reinforce a scriptural precedent for being prepared. Right off the bat, we have Joseph saving up grain under Pharaoh’s rule (Gen 47:13-27). That grain saved not only Egypt but Joseph’s family, too. Then there is the scripture that tells us to take care of our own house first, or we are worse than an unbeliever (1 Tim 5:8). So, with the question of whether or not I should have that as a new project in my mind, I started to pray and ask God for direction…then it hit me. 1 Corinthians 6:12.
No, that scripture precisely didn’t occur. What did occur was the paraphrase for that scripture, and I had to look it up. What’s the point? The point is that I absolutely can work on that. God doesn’t actually care, I don’t think, if I work on that book, the Advent 2026 book, or something different. God cares about my heart and whether or not I love His Son, which I do.
What occurred to me next is that I can surely work on any of the temporal things I want, but there’s a catch. I eventually have to step before God for His judgment. What I work on won’t matter a bit as concerns that judgment…to God. What will happen is that I will have to stand there as the story of what I decided was important rolls on by. My decisions of what was important to me during my life in the flesh won’t change Jesus’ judgment of me, but I will certainly feel either bad or good for having wasted or spent well the resources I was given. That’s the difference.
Will I be satisfied with the results of what I decided was important, or will I be ashamed of what I decided to do with my time on earth? I don’t need to know if God approves or disapproves of what I might want to do. The question is, will I be happy representing what I decided to do to Jesus when I meet Him? God bless and Godspeed.