There is a very vocal group of Christians in our culture who hold to the position that if a freedom afforded by the Gospel of grace offends a fellow believer it is our duty to abstain from that particular liberty. I’ve even heard it asked when making this case, “Do you love your liberty more than your fellow brother?” Of course not! But love really isn’t the issue at hand.

While this position is fraught with problems (it’s not Biblical, who’s the arbitrator of such things, where does the limitation of liberty end if the criteria is offending someone) and in many ways is a categorically unfair argument, I would simply ask why people feel the need to actively restrict or limit any of the liberties Jesus died to provide?

Sadly, I have found that those who seek to restrict Christian liberty are rarely the weaker brother, but instead are legalist who’ve failed to experience the freeing nature of grace for themselves. It’s been said the one thing a legalist hates is free Christians!

Understand, in no way should the freedom grace affords be used as a license for recklessness; and yet, unnecessarily restricting such freedoms over preference shouldn’t be allowed either. I full heartedly believe “our responsibility to not stumble others does not mean allowing an intolerant minority to hijack church culture.”

Friend, Christian liberty is something we should all be willing to fight to maintain, because it only exists as a result of the atoning work of Jesus on the cross. You see to restrict such liberty in any way is to undermine the very nature of grace itself! Friend, grace is a hill to die on, because it really does change everything!