Passage Read: Romans 14-15
Meditation Verse: 14:22
Thought
How challenging it must have been (and probably still is) to have a fellowship filled with faithful Jews and regular Gentiles. The Gentile does all kinds of things that violate Old Testament cleanliness rules, not the least of which is what he eats. So to a Jew who just believed or believed among fellow Jews, he could be offended by so many things a Gentile does and is! So the Jew needed to learn to accept the Gentile with all his "freedoms," and the Gentile needed to accept the Jew with all his "restrictions." Both needed sensitivity toward the other, but the Jew would likely have the harder time adjusting to the newfound freedom in Christ. The Gentile needed to be careful not to flaunt his freedom, and the Jew needed to be careful not to look down on and condemn the Gentile for all the ways he didn't keep the Law. But in making adjustments, both needed to be careful that what he approved was actually approved by God. Some Gentile customs and habits would not be acceptable to God, and this freedom in Christ was not permission for the Jew to cast off all restraint. God still has standards of righteousness, but they have more to do with moral behavior than about food and drink. That doesn't mean we're free to do whatever we want, but all things we would like to have freedom in we need to check against Scripture, to know the heart of God on any matter, so as not to approve something that God will condemn. And even if God gives no clear guidance, sensitivity to others, especially the weak, should always inform our choices where they could be affected.
Application
I need to be careful that what I allow in myself as acceptable before God really is acceptable to Him. I don't want to engage in a behavior that God actually finds repulsive or offensive, and I don't want to approve of a behavior in someone else and so encourage them to offend the Lord. As frustrating as it is to limit my freedom by the conscience of another, that is genuine love and a kind of giving up of my life for another. If there is nothing discernible in Scripture and the character of God opposed to an activity, but it is not welcome within a particular fellowship, it would be better to move to a different fellowship where the activity is not a problem rather than try to change the existing fellowship. But if the activity is offensive to God, then it is wrong in every fellowship, even where they say it is permissible. So ultimately, I need to know for sure what God says and abide by His judgment; He is the Judge, not some congregation of believers. Yet He calls me to be sensitive to my fellow believers and the degree of freedom they have attained in their seeking of Christ.