Accepting Without Judgment

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

ACCEPTING WITHOUT JUDGMENT

Rom 14:1-4

14:1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2 One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

NIV

Paul has more to say on this matter, but we will be content for now to simply consider this first part about how we treat one another. It would seem that among the church there are going to be some whose faith is weaker than others. This seems a little strange to us as we believe, as we have been told that God gives every person a measure of faith, and if he does not show favoritism then we would also have to believe he gives all men the same measure of faith. This is certainly different than the gift of faith or when the Spirit manifests or expresses himself in someone with an extraordinary type of faith, for a special purpose for the common good. However, as we each have been given this measure of faith, it also would be incumbent upon ourselves to exercise this faith. If, however, some do not exercise their faith, it could become weak within them. Those who have that stronger faith should still accept those whose faith is weak, or weaker than others. We should do this without passing any sort of judgment upon them because of their deliberating or questioning what is true, which is translated here as disputable matters. Paul gives some examples of the difference between those whose faith is strong and those whose faith is weaker. The first is about some regulations regarding food. The point he is making is those whose faith is weak or weaker than others, might be of the mindset of the don’ts of Christianity, that is trying to live by some manmade rules rather than living by faith in Christ Jesus. Although they do express their faith in Jesus for their salvation, they simply cannot allow themselves any freedom when it comes to what they eat or drink. Yet, if we are among those whose faith allows us to eat meat then we should not judge those who restrict themselves from meat. However, they also have the responsibility not to judge those whose faith is strong and who imbibe meat. Therefore, neither of us should judge another man’s servant or in all of our cases, who serves the Lord. We each must stand before God according to how we serve him however we exercise or don’t exercise our faith regarding  eating or abstaining from certain foods or even drinking. Let us ensure our faith is always getting stronger without judging those who are allowing their faith to remain weak.