Love others as you have been loved by God

Romans 14:2-3 One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. In these verses, Paul illustrated, by naming what was probably a real debatable issue in their fellowship, how believers were to receive and love one another. The issue was eating meat and/or vegetables. Notice that Paul mentioned that the real issue was faith, which is another way of saying, that the issue is related to what God has or hasn’t done in one of His beloved. God has given to one person the freedom of conscience to eat both meat and vegetables. This means that the person recognizes God has given both to Him for his sustenance and answer to prayers. Another person has some question about whether meat will defile him. This probably was because he either knew or didn’t know if it was meat which had once been offered as a sacrifice in a pagan temple to an idol. Paul brought up the idea of “unclean” meat in vs. 14 and it was a problem believers were facing in Corinth as well. Paul urged them not to judge, disregard, despise, or treat with contempt someone whose faith isn’t like theirs. Instead they were to receive each another because God received them on the basis of His mercies and the righteousness of Jesus. They know that God has received them equally because they each were given faith to believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection. He did not receive them because of their opinion regarding the food they can eat. Therefore, if God loves them in Christ, they are to love them in Christ. God has made the judgment that food choices will not be the basis of fellowship with Him or among believers. Since we are renewing our minds to think like God does instead of continuing to think like the world does, we agree with God’s judgment and love one another in spite of our differing opinions on these debatable issues. This is what living to love with Jesus looks like when God puts someone in your path who is your brother or sister in Christ but has a differing opinion on a matter upon which there’s no clear direction in God’s Word. If our purpose in life is to glorify God by loving with Jesus all those He puts in our paths, then let us be encouraged today to love others as we have been loved by God. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com