Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. – Romans 14:6

Today's Scripture Reading (March 16, 2021): Romans 14

Rules. We love them, and we hate them. Maybe our biggest problem is that we aren't playing with the same rule book. And sometimes, our message is that real Christians are the ones whose rulebook is the same as ours. If they are playing by different rules, well, they must be deceived, and we should pray for them. If they persist in playing by the wrong rules, well, then we might need to kick them out of our fellowships.

Part of the problem with our reading of the Bible is that it speaks about significant sources of division at the time of the writing that has now faded into the background. And what are the significant disagreements now, just weren't then. So, we often miss the message. But the issues that Paul speaks of were not on the periphery; they were central to the operation of the Christian Church.

I had a conversation with a friend some years ago who believes that we should worship on the Jewish Sabbath, Saturday. For my friend, to not worship on Saturday was a significant sin of the contemporary Christian Church. And one of the things that he mentioned was that he believed that there is no indication until centuries after the Bible of the change from Saturday to Sunday. But that is not true. Paul alludes to the argument in his letter to the Romans. "One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind" (Romans 14:5). Paul seems to put this argument to rest by telling his readers to choose what they think is right and be convinced of that decision. But he also seems to want to stop the argument. I might believe that the proper day for worship is Sunday, you might think it is Saturday, and a friend might think it is Thursday. Decide to do what you believe is right as an honor given to God. What we should not do is call into question the faith of those who disagree with us.  

Paul moves on to the question of eating meat. And it is here that he loses us. We might have different beliefs due to our stand on health, but eating meat is not a contemporary spiritual issue. Paul gives the same instructions here. Decide and do whatever it is that you think is right to honor God.

I think this can be argued on many hot button topics in the contemporary church. We need to understand that other believers might have differing opinions with us, even on critical issues like abortion and the LGBTQ+ community, and still be genuine followers of Jesus Christ. We can and should have discussions around these issues, but what we can't do is question the other's faith. Paul argues that we should decide what is right, in conjunction with the Holy Spirit's ministry and the biblical text, and then follow that belief being sure to give thanks to God. Our tent is big, and that is okay. But in the end, even with significant disagreements between us, we are on the same team.    

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Romans 15