Living in Righteousness, Peace and Joy

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

LIVING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE, AND JOY

Rom 14:13-18

13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. 14 As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. 15 If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. 16 Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

NIV

It seems to us that those whose faith is weak are in control of the whole of the church because what someone considers what is clean and opening imbibes then becomes a stumbling block for those who cannot believe in that freedom in Christ. But the problem is that if we are a stumbling block to them then we are not acting in love. So those who believe that nothing is unclean and are free to eat or drink whatever, then they must abstain because it could cause distress for those who are weaker in their faith. However, what Paul is saying is that all this stressing over the rules and regulations about what is acceptable to eat or drink has nothing to do with the kingdom of God. We would think this should apply to all members of the body of Christ. That is to say because the kingdom of God is about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, then both those who consider everything clean and those who consider certain things unclean should all be acting in love toward each other, living in a righteous manner, that is living with virtue, purity of life, uprightness, correctness in thinking, feeling and acting, which is how this Greek word, dikiois, which is translated as righteousness in this context. If that were the case then it would not be appropriate for those who consider something unclean to pass judgment on those who think everything is clean but live in love and peace and joy of the Holy Spirit. Still, we must all put others before ourselves so how then do we deal with those who feel they must abide by certain rules and regulations about what is clean and unclean? We simply cannot cause them harm in any way, however, would it not be more appropriate to show them the better way to live in Christ, to help them to exercise their faith, and live by the truth rather than by traditions. This is to say that traditions can change over time, and they certainly have in our lifetime, as to what is clean and unclean, but the truth is always the truth, unchangeable forever. Still, all that is not really about the kingdom of God. All that business about clean and unclean is a distraction from living in the kingdom of God, the new creation, and being an image bearer of God. So then it would be appropriate for all believers to put aside all thinking about what is clean and unclean and live in righteousness, peace, and the joy of the Holy Spirit.