Welcome to Day 19 of this series, reading through the Book of Romans, using the Not Ashamed of the Gospel Bible study from HelloMornings. I'm so glad you could join me here.
Our Bible text for today is 14: 5 - 9 ...
One person considers one day to be above another day. Someone else considers every day to be the same. Each one must be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 Whoever observes the day, observes it for the honor of the Lord. Whoever eats, eats for the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; and whoever does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat it, yet he thanks God. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 Christ died and came to life for this: that He might rule over both the dead and the living.
In today’s passage, Paul continues with his theme of Christian unity, in spite of personal differences.
He is urging the Roman Believers to stop quarreling over issues that have no bearing on each other's salvation and sanctification, such as which day of the week to set aside for a Sabbath rest, or which foods to eat or avoid (as a vegetarian, I wholeheartedly concur with Paul here, by the way - omnivore-judgement is real, folks!! Haha).
Paul makes it very clear that the choices we make on this issues must not violate our conscience or moral law (Romans 14: 23b). But as long as our decisions on "disputable matters " (see Romans 14: 1) are not dishonouring to God (verse 6a), we really don't need to try to convince others to join our side of the debate.
Rather than focusing on what not to do, or worrying about what other Christians are doing, we should test our own actions and choices, asking ourselves if what we're doing, saying, watching, and eating are growing us in our walk with the Lord, and if these things bring Him glory.
How much better could we love God and others if we heeded Paul's instruction in Philippians 4: 8: "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things"?