How Do You Handle Yourself?

Below is the daily Bible reading I am doing for the West Side Church. Please feel free to follow along.

It has been a long time since I have read the book of Romans the way I am doing so now. I am almost kicking myself for not studying it like this in the past couple of years. Today’ reading (Romans 14) really reminded me of that.

I love how this passage begins with the word of Paul … “Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.” Sometimes I think many of our arguments in the church are over disputable matters. Friends, we all come to church at different levels in our Christian walk. Some of us have been in the church our whole lives, we have spent years studying the scripture, and some of us might even have some college background in our study of the word. Others have come to the table at a completely different level of maturity. Some may have come from a background that was weak in teaching the scriptures’. Some may be new to Christianity and have little knowledge of God’s word and his teachings.

We must remember to accept the brother or sister who is weak. It is our job to teach, guide and correct. That is how you more than likely became a stronger brother. But when it comes to areas were there is disputable knowledge, those are areas we must learn to not pass judgments, where we must act out of love towards others.

A couple of weeks ago in our small group we got into a discussion about eschatology. Myself and one of the group’s members are on completely different sides of the table on that particular subject. However, because of the love we have for each other we did not get up demanding that one of us was correct, on the other hand we discussed peacefully and without passing judgment on each other. Why was that? Because it is a disputable matter! It is not something we should wage war over. In the end while we did not agree that friend and I enjoyed a nice time of fellowship afterwards.

So how do you handle being in the prescience of a weaker brother? How do you handle yourself when in a discussion on matters that is not set in stone, matters of opinion? Continue reading the rest of Romans 14 and Paul gives some pretty good answers.