Monday Dec 27, 2021

Episode 78: Romans 14

Today's meditation is based on Romans 14 from The Passion Translation

I offer an open hand of fellowship to welcome every true believer, even though their faith may be weak and immature. And I refuse to engage in debates with them concerning nothing more than opinions.

One believer has no problem with eating all kinds of food, but another with weaker faith will eat only vegetables. The one who eats freely shouldn’t judge and look down on the one who eats only vegetables. And the vegetarian must not judge and look down on the one who eats everything. God has welcomed both and taken them as his partners.

I am not so foolish as to sit in judgment of someone else. God alone can evaluate whether he succeeds or fails. And God’s servants will succeed, for God’s power supports them and enables them to stand.

In the same way, one person regards a certain day as more sacred than another, and another person regards them all alike. There is nothing wrong with having different personal convictions about such matters. For the person who observes one day as especially sacred does it to honor the Lord. And the same is true regarding what a person eats. The one who eats everything eats to honor the Lord, because he gives thanks to God, and the one who has a special diet does it to honor the Lord, and he also gives thanks to God.

While I live, I must live for my Master, and in death I must bring honor to him. So dead or alive I belong to my Master. For this very reason the Anointed One died and was brought back to life again, so that he would become the Lord God over both the dead and the living.

Why would I judge my brothers or sisters because of their diet, despising them for what they eat or don’t eat? For we each will have our turn to stand before God’s judgment seat. Every knee will bow before him and every tongue will confess the truth and glorify him.

Therefore, I must answer for myself and give a personal account of my own life before God.

So I am not critical and do not condemn other believers, but instead I am determined to never deliberately cause a brother or sister to stumble and fall because of my actions.

I know and am convinced that there is nothing wrong with eating any food. But to the one who considers it to be unclean, it is unacceptable. If my brother or sister is offended because I insist on eating what I want, it is no longer love that rules my conduct. I do not want to wound someone for whom the Messiah gave his life, just so I can eat what I want. I don’t give people the opportunity to slander what I know to be good. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of rules about food and drink, but is in the realm of the Holy Spirit, filled with righteousness, peace, and joy. When I serve the Anointed One by walking in these kingdom realities it pleases God and earns the respect of others.

I have made it my top priority to live a life of peace with harmony in my relationships, eagerly seeking to strengthen and encourage others. I do not ruin the work of God by insisting on my own opinions about food. I can eat anything I want, but I realize it is wrong to deliberately cause someone to be offended over what I eat. So I consider it an act of love to refrain from eating meat or drinking wine or doing anything else that might cause a fellow believer to be offended or tempted to be weakened in his faith. I keep the convictions I have about these matters between me and God, and don’t impose them upon others. I'm happy when you don’t judge myself in doing what my conscience approves. For anything I do that doesn’t spring from faith is, by definition, sinful.

Episode 78: Romans 14

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