Is It Worth Doing?

“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. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. — 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 (NIV)

There’s a phrase we love to say: “I can do what I want.” And in Christ, there’s real truth to that. The gospel frees us from the crushing weight of rule-following as a means of earning grace. Paul knew this. He celebrated it. But in these two sharp verses, the challenge is, is it worth doing? 

The Corinthian church was wrestling with a practical question about food sacrificed to idols, but Paul’s answer stretches far beyond the dinner table. He essentially says: Yes, you’re free. Now what are you going to do with that freedom?

This is the question that separates spiritual maturity from spiritual adolescence. An adolescent faith asks, “Is this allowed?” A mature faith asks, “Is this good — for me, for others, for the body of Christ? Is it worth doing?”

Permissible. Beneficial. Constructive. These three words form a ladder. Many things sit on the bottom rung — technically fine, no rules broken. But Paul calls us to climb higher. He’s not asking us to become joyless, self-denying people who can’t enjoy life. He’s asking us to think beyond ourselves.

Verse 24 is the gut-punch: No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. In a world that markets self-care, self-optimization, and self-promotion at every turn, this is countercultural to the core. Paul is describing a life shaped not by personal rights, but by communal love.

So the next time you’re standing in your freedom — and you should stand there — ask one more question: Who else is affected by what I do with this? Is it worth doing?

That question will grow you more than almost any rule ever could.