I mentioned to a friend that all last week I had spaghetti for breakfast. He thought I was daft. People don’t eat spaghetti for breakfast. When I asked him why not, the only real answer I could get from him was because that isn’t what we do. How very easy it is for convention to dictate to us what we can and cannot do. The power of culture, the routine of life, the hold of habit are so very strong; even to the point of sometimes mistakenly assigning moral implications of right and wrong to something with absolutely no Biblical basis or real ethical foundation.
Several years ago a Baptist pastor friend and I decided to unite our churches one evening for a joint communion service. It was a beautiful experience that changed our community. Because we did some things a bit differently we did some their way and some our way. They did not have deacons pass the emblems to the people where they were seated but had the worshippers come to the front to receive the emblems from the pastors. It was amusing to watch the expressions on the faces of our members when we asked them to the front. You could almost see the smoke coming from their ears as their brains went into high gear trying to decide if this was morally right or wrong. Finally a few got it that the geography of where one ate the bread had nothing to do with its’ significance. When they came the others followed.
Before we begin making a issue of something we should clearly understand beforehand if this is cultural tradition or God directed. God loves nothing more than a clear thinking child.