Encouraging the Faith of Others
“Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgement on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.
“One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord for he gives thanks to God and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
“For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written:
‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me, every tongue will confess to God’
“So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgement on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.” Romans 14: 1-13
This is a lot to chew on. In his letter to the Romans, Paul was addressing a specific problem. There must have been a dispute about rules and regulations about food restrictions and Sabbath observations. In those days there were so many rules, some directly received from God, some written by man as if speaking for God. We may think that all this squabbling of which rules were to be followed and which ones could be bent is a moot point for us today but aren’t we often guilty of judging each other in the same way? We would be wise to heed Paul’s words in verse 13 - and stop passing judgement on one another and make up our minds not to put stumbling blocks or obstacles in anyone’s way, impeding their faith.
When we put restrictions on who we welcome into the family of God; based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expressions, race, economic status, nationality or any other distinction by which humanity divides people, we are guilty of judgement that is not our right or responsibility. God alone is the judge. Our purpose is to love one another (see Romans 12:9-21) and encourage each other in faith as Paul reminds the Christ followers in Thessalonica, ”Therefore encourage one another and build each other up...” 1Thessalonians 5:11
By turning people away from the body of Christ, we are discouraging their faith. When we do not accept people as they are, for who they are, we are attempting to usurp the authority of God.
“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” Romans 15:7
Our God desires our devotion, to him and to one another. May we please him in loving others as we love ourselves.
“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement
give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus,
so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Romans 15:5-6
Merryl Dietz January 2021