Rom
14:19-23 (NIV) Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and
to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.
All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes
someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do
anything else that will cause your brother to fall.
22 So
whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed
is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23 But the man who
has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and
everything that does not come from faith is sin.
NOTE: It is very
clear from the previous verses that the commands of the OT laws have no
authority over the Christian. But, some
believers think that they do and their faith is effected by other's actions. In these case, the overriding principle of
grace, love for your neighbor, takes precedence. To allow oneself to be under another's
convictions shows love, it does not mean that one agrees with the other
person's convictions. Unfortunately, too
many people make issues of things that are really not important. The arguments and disagreements hurt the witness
of believers in the world. We have a
wonderful message of freedom, of peace, of true joy that the world can't even
begin to understand without our witness -- and to think we muddy the waters
with issues that have no importance.
Jesus Christ changes lives, and makes people whole again -- not perfect,
but whole. And he begins a process of
sanctifying an individual to become more and more like the savior. We can have a strong and vibrant witness, but
we must let go of these petty selfish interests and seek to know the Savior
through the word of God. There is power
in the word that can transform and renew our mind, so that we just don't talk
these ideas, but we live them.
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