ROMANS 14:5

Or, say, one person thinks that some days should be set aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other. There are good reasons either way. So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience.

TO PONDER

I have a confession to make, I sat with the “stoners” in High School, we sat at the edge of the school’s “Demilitarized Zone”, that area delineating the school and the “real-world”, there was a strip of bushland in that zone where a group of miscreant students could sneak off for a quick cigarette (etc) out of the site of authority figures, but that is not my confession…

My confession is; I have never been drunk, stoned, or even smoked a whole cigarette in my entire life, and my parents knew who my friends were and what they were doing. They knew because I told them and they trusted that when I said I didn’t partake they trusted me.

However, when I became part of a church my church family didn’t trust me, especially after I pierced my ear to match my glorious mullet (it was the 80’s). I would often hear the statement “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft!” and it was suggested that I perhaps shouldn’t share in communion.

Today’s verse is addressing a huge issue within the early church, some people were not practicing their faith the proper way, they were celebrating the wrong day as the holy day, they were eating the “wrong” food, or were eating the “right” food while others were not… etc, etc, etc.

All of this was way worse than sitting with the stoners, having a mullet, and piercing ones ear, comparatively speaking, or was it?

Christianity, at the time of Paul’s writing this letter to the church in Rome, was a Jewish sect, barely branded (check with Pastor Mat on the dates when “Christian” became a brand) so, the arguments were based on how things were always done, whether actions were important, whether style of worship mattered, perhaps even whether it was OK for women to be pastors?

Paul continues in his letter in verse 13 (because he numbered all the verses in his letters); “Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.”

I removed my fake diamond stud earing because of my obvious rebellious attitude (the struggle was a chicken and egg argument) until I read Exodus 21:6 and had chapter and verse to prove that my action was in fact covered by grace after all.

My snarkishness aside, the “stumbling block” is an obstacle both for the one who considers the diamante stud sin and the one who thinks the stud is not in fact an act of rebellion.

To sum the passage up, I would say “you do you for others!”

PRAYER: Loving God, I thank you for your unfailing love, the love that moved into our sinful neighbourhood to redeem us and our fallen world demonstrating your amazing grace, to me a sinner. Help me choose your love over the diamante stud every time. Amen.

Today’s devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside.