March 10th, Tuesday, Romans chaps 14-15

Rom 14
You know, your love may be tested more by Christians who disagree with you, than by unbelievers who persecute you.
It takes a diamond to cut a diamond.
What should you do when your brother or sister disagrees with you how God's people ought to live?
Well first of all, there's acceptance.
Not all believers are mature, and love demands that the mature members of the family defer to the immature.
Love protects people and gives them a chance to grow up.
People may be difficult, but we must accept them in love for the Lord's sake.

We'll read about accountability.
We have no right to condemn and judge one another because the judge is the Lord.
Each believer will have enough to do in keeping his own account right, without interfering with others' accounts.

And then, there's ambition.
Our desire must not be to get everyone to agree with us.
Our desire must be to pursue peace, not cause others to stumble, and help others to mature in Christ.
What starts as grieving can become offending and making weak and causing others to stumble and fall.
The result might be destroying a brother or sister's faith.
Is destroying another just to have your own way worth it?

Rom 15
A debt to the weak.
You see the strong must bear the weak, and help them grow.
That takes love and patience and unselfishness.
It takes mature believers to do this.
If we live to please ourselves, we will not follow the examples of Christ, who lived to please the Father and help others.

A debt to the lost.
God saved the Jews so that they might reach the Gentiles and lead them in praising the Lord.
God has saved us so that we might win others – other worshipers who will walk in truth walk in the Spirit of truth.
We have a debt to pay.

A debt to Israel.
The Gentiles are indebted to the Jews.
And that debt is paid by praying for them.
Witnessing to them in love and sharing our materials gifts to assist them.
The great writer, Thomas Merton, who said, “To consider persons and events and situations only in light of their effect upon myself, is actually to live on the doorstep of hell. We have to reach out to others with love from a pure heart.”