The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
Ecclesiastes 2:24-25
There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God;Ā for apart from himĀ who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1
āAll things are lawful,ā but not all things are beneficial. āAll things are lawful,ā but not all things build up.Ā Do not seek your own advantage, but that of the other.Ā Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience,Ā for āthe earth and its fullness are the Lordās.āĀ If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience.Ā But if someone says to you, āThis has been offered in sacrifice,ā then do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscienceāĀ I mean the otherās conscience, not your own. For why should my liberty be subject to the judgment of someone elseās conscience?Ā If I partake with thankfulness, why should I be denounced because of that for which I give thanks?
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.Ā Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God,Ā just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, so that they may be saved.Ā Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.