14 day plan

Saints in Rome, Saints at Home

Day 13 of 14

NIV

Romans 14:13

13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.

Reflection: ‘Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. ‘ Romans 14:19

I hope you’ve begun noticing saints with whom you’re rubbing shoulders, and that you’re on tiptoe to see God’s Spirit at work in others. It’s a reality worth celebrating that: the influence of the Holy Spirit among you showcases goodness, unity and delight.* Saints celebrate through their honour and affection for each other. What a pleasing offering of thanks back to God that is. But this concord is fraught.

Here’s Paul’s principle: pursue unity and maturity. You who are robust in faith be gentle and accepting of the sensitive in faith, not criticising their principles.

You who are sensitive in faith, keep to your convictions and don’t judge. That’s God’s job.

As C.S. Lewis reflected, “All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to [our final] destinations.  It is with awe and circumspection, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another…There are no ordinary people.”**

Blessing/prayer: May the God who gives comfort and endurance make us like-minded with each other through the example of Christ Jesus, prompting our collective, unified praise and honour to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.***

*Romans 14:17

**C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, pg 45 (edited)

***Romans 15:5-6

 

The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.

Days

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14

Romans 14:1-23

The Weak and the Strong

1Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

5One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

10You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11It is written:

“ ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,

‘every knee will bow before me;

every tongue will acknowledge God.’ ”

12So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 14I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. 15If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. 16Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. 17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.

19Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

22So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.