Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning.
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Differences in Observance
Bible Verse:Romans 14:1-9
"As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.
Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For 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, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
"
Message:
The beginning of Romans 14 addresses Christians who continue to follow Jewish legal practices, particularly the laws pertaining to diet and observance of the Sabbath. Paul characterizes them as “weak in faith,” because absolute faith in Christ would render obedience to the letter of the law irrelevant; we are saved by faith alone. And yet, Paul does not criticize this weakness; in fact, he defends it, saying “the one who abstains”—that is, a Christian who refuses to eat non-kosher meat or who observes the Sabbath—does so in honor of the Lord.
Eve-Serpent-German
Instead, Paul shows the error made by those who criticize; the people who need to change are the ones who are quarreling with their brethren who keep kosher, or who keep the Sabbath. Paul says, basically, “this quibbling over details of worship must stop,” for it is of no consequence whatsoever. The only important thing is that all seek to worship Christ.
There is an old story, often told, about two small churches in an American town, located right down the street from each other. Both were struggling somewhat, and so they decided to merge into a single, stronger church. But they were unable to do so. Why? One church used the words “forgive us our trespasses” in the Lord’s Prayer, while the other used the words “forgive us our debts.” Neither side would change—and intransigence over this utterly insignificant word prevented two groups of professed Christians from coming together.
Anyone who has been involved in church governance will recognize that such destructive intransigence over trivial matters is the rule, not the exception. Paul would have been heartsick if he had known how far it would go, to the point of Christians hating and killing each other by the thousands over myriad insignificant issues.
There is certainly nothing wrong with preferring a particular form of worship, or music, or liking a pastor or priest; part of today’s message is that people have a lot of leeway in how they “honor the Lord.” But it is critical not to be estranged from other Christians over such matters. The New Testament repeats, again and again, our primary obligation of love towards one another, as we recently read in Romans 13:8-10.
Meditation
:
Prayer :
The God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant; Make me perfect in every good work to do your will, working in me that which is well pleasing in your sight; through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever....Amen
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