ROMANS 14
5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 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. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For 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. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. – Romans 14:5-9
ROMANS 14 LIVE FOR THE LORD
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
God made everything on this earth for and through Christ
Every human being is designed to give glory to him alone
Every detail of our lives must be lived for the sake of worshiping him
If we live for ourselves, we will die, but if we live for him, we’ll be alive.
In this letter, Paul continues with his letter to the Romans on the theme of judging others. He laid down the differences of human preferences. He presents that it is immaterial whether one is different from us. God made us all different from each other, but each human being has God’s image in each of them. As believers, we are called to be loving and when we highlight our differences from others instead of accepting them, we are operating in “control” and fail to be loving.
Paul gives us a solution how not to fall trap into judging one another. He advised us in this letter to focus on living for the Lord. It shouldn’t matter to us when other people do something differently. If we keep our eyes on the Lord, we will not be trivial as to make others look like us. We will not open doors to the devil by seeking to control or to make our lives focus on what we want. We will not be easily angered or triggered when others are doing something that we are not used to. This tactic of the devil is very subtle but we ought to be watchful when we feel uncomfortable that we are not able to accept other people’s differences from us.
REFLECTION
- What is going on inside us when we are judgmental of others?
