A WORD FOR TODAY, September 24, 2024
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, September 24, 2024
“For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, ‘“As I live,” says the Lord, “to me every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess to God.”’ So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.” Romans 14:7-12, WEB
I had an appointment with a garage for a check-up on my car. It was only going to take an hour or two, so I decided to walk to a restaurant a block from the shop for breakfast. I wanted to finish reading a book for the Bible study I’m preparing, and this was the perfect opportunity to have an hour or so without distraction. I was a few pages into my reading and a gentleman who had been eating when I arrived stopped to ask if I was enjoying my book. I was, although most people might think that Philip Melanchthon’s Commentary on Proverbs isn’t very exciting. He was impressed that I was reading that type of book and that I was preparing a Bible study. He said that I was such a blessing to be teaching about God.
I thanked him and began to turn back to my book, thinking he was about to leave, but he sat down across from me and continued the conversation. It lasted about forty-five minutes, and I never finished reading my book. He was older than I, and though his conversation was not meant to “convert” me, he definitely wanted to teach me a few things. I listened politely, but also shared my point of view. I pointed to scripture and history, explained why his position was skewed. I didn’t change his mind, that wasn’t my purpose, but our conversation gave him something to think about. It gave me something to think about, too.
Someone recently said, “See every conversation as an invitation.” In some cases, that invitation is to do something kind for someone. I was interrupted at the grocery store the other day by a woman complaining about how the canned fruit department was much smaller (the store was recently remodeled.) I agreed with her complaint because I couldn’t find what I needed in that same department. She was in a scooter, so getting around was difficult for her. I wondered whether the items I needed were in another aisle, so I went to look. They were, and I was able to send her exactly where she needed to go. It took a few extra minutes to help her, she hadn’t even asked for my help, but that encounter was an invitation to help.
My conversation with the man in the restaurant was also an invitation. I don’t think God put us together to change each other’s minds, but to encourage one another in our faith. Our differences were not so large, and we both believed in Jesus. That is our common foundation, the thing on which our faith is founded, on which the universal catholic Church is built. Our differences were not matters of salvation. They might matter, but we have no place to condemn each other or wonder if the other is really saved.
The book of Romans is Paul’s opus, his theological essay about our faith in Jesus Christ. He tells us that we are sinners in need of a Savior, all of us, and that Jesus is that Savior. After convincing us of our need, and of our hope, he teaches us how to live in our faith in Christ. Today’s passage focuses on how we treat people who have differing opinions about things. Those who were “weak” (according to Paul) could not, in good conscience, eat the meat that had been sacrificed to the false gods.
Paul’s point in this passage is that we are not to pass judgment on those who believe this about the meat. We can teach them from the Bible why it is ok to eat the meat, but we should never do anything that will harm their conscience. This means even not eating in their presence for their sake. Our issues are much different than theirs, and there are things that matter. In those issues we might have to rebuke or correct our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, we may even have to deal with heretical ideology, but most things about which we disagree are not matters of salvation.
No matter what, it is not up to us to condemn them for their ideas, no matter how bad or wrong they might be. Condemnation is “above our pay grade”; only God can judge, and He does not want anyone to be condemned. When it comes to those issues that matter, it is up to us to teach with grace, and if there is no repentance, to walk away and trust that God has a plan for that person’s life. We are to thank Him for the interruption and ask Him what it is that we are meant to learn from the encounter. It is also important to remember that we could be wrong. For most issues, there is a middle ground that is likely closer to the truth than any of our extremes. If we believe what Paul taught in the first thirteen chapters of Romans, then we know we are the worst of sinners, which means anyone in front of us is not the worst of sinners. And if we believe what Paul has been teaching us, we know that we stand on the same foundation with all those who also believe in Jesus, so we are to accept them in Christ, even when we have a hard time accepting their ideas.
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