Living in the Spirit

September 23, 2023

Scripture Reading: Romans 14:1-12
Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. 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. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written,
‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
   and every tongue shall give praise to God.’
So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

I am the descendant of both Pilgrims and Puritans. The Pilgrims were escaping the rule of the English King.  The Puritans had an official charter from the King of England to establish a colony. That was the beginning of the need for our Constitution to provide in the First Amendment that Congress make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise. As I read the above scripture, I wondered if our founders referred to this scripture to help them provide for the freedom of religious practices along with the protections that one faith group could not use the government to force their beliefs on everyone else, when we try to abridge these rights we forget that we are not the judge. God is the ultimate judge.

Prayer: Lord, instruct us and teach us the way we should go*. Amen.

*Derived from Psalm 32:8

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.