What Am I Allowed To Do?

I feel like I hear predominant questions about Christianity frequently and they always have to do with what the individual is "allowed" to do. I'm sure if we're all honest, we can all attest to asking these kinds of questions too. They always seem to sound like some of the following... Am I allowed to (fill in the blank)? Can I (fill in the blank)? What does the Bible say about (fill in the blank)? Will God be mad if I (fill in the blank)? How far can I go with (fill in the blank)? Can I drink (fill in the blank)? You get the point. 


Whenever I'm asked what God's "take" is on any of those kinds of questions, I always lick the tip of my finger and hit the Bible pages looking for the clear cut yes/no answer. The problem with that is, a lot of the time there are no clear cut answers, and most people, myself included, will take the liberty of assuming its ok to do "whatever" as long as the Bible doesn't give a black and white answer against it. Or if  we find the answer is "grey", we'll justify it to ourselves somehow, usually by saying, "Hey it's a grey area." 


This is why I love Paul. 


Please take a moment to read Romans 14:14-21 (I would type it all out but then no one would read this because it's already too long) 


Now, you can substitute "food" in that passage with a (fill in the blank). 


Basically Paul is saying, Ok we believe that some of the things we do are ok and we are justified in doing them. But some other people may think those things are wrong. So, don't let what you do get in the way of someone's potential relationship with Jesus Christ because... you see, Christ suffered a pretty agonizing death with nails ripping through his flesh to a tree for that person. So, don't ruin God's plan over the things you do, whether you think your'e right in your own eyes or not, or even if you "interpreted" scripture to justify your actions. It is just better to abstain from the questionable things if those things may cause someone else to stumble. 


This way of thinking makes following Jesus a bit more radical in terms of what we're "allowed" to do. Hmm... Jesus was kind of radical too... wasn't He?