Read: Romans 14:1-4

Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The 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. Who 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.

Reflect:

We’ve all heard the saying -“Don’t judge a book by its cover” – and then we do.

As Paul begins Romans 14, he addresses the tendencies we all have of even judging the behaviors of other believers on what really consists of minor areas of disagreement.

I read this some time ago that we as Christians should:

• Practice Conviction on the Majors
• Practice Tolerance on the Minors
• In All Things We Should Love

The list of Majors is relatively short. Here’s a brief example from 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…”

What are the Minors? Paul addresses two concerns. We should not “quarrel over opinions.” First, he discusses the diets of believers. Some believed they were free to eat anything. Others only ate vegetables. And each group looked at the other with contempt. Really? Would people argue over such trivial things?
Right you are. What opinions do we quarrel over today?

Secondly, Paul addresses those who believe that Worship of the Lord should be held on the Sabbath which is Saturday and some believed it was more appropriate to Worship on Sunday. Is one day better than another? A friend of mine believes Saturday is the appropriate day for Worship. Is it something to argue about?

What about the opinions of others? If you’ve been around churches very long, you know there are cultural practices that have little to do with the standards of Scripture. Again, is it worth an argument?

Respond:

What then is the bottom line? Our lives are to be lived for the Lord.

Romans 14: 6-8

The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.  If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.