It Is Not To Stop Eating, But To No Longer Love

Bible Study #707- Church in the Houses From: December 6-12, 2011

TOPIC:”It Is Not To Stop Eating, But To No Longer Love ” Romans 14:12 - 23 Let us be clear to all that each of us will be accountable to God (Romans 14: 12). Each person will account for himself and not their siblings. If you become full of hatred because of what has been done to you, you will be guilty because your obligation is to love. On many occasions we live looking out for others and not ourselves. We judge others too often. (Romans 14: 13). In most cases we do not have the authority or the knowledge to judge the other. We speak only what our eyes see. That is to say, we speak of appearances and not what is inside of the person. We do not have that perfect love in order to correct others and we should worry about the brother’s growth. We should never be an obstacle to our brothers; remember that Christ was the one who gave His life for this person. There are things that are not essential to start a discussion and least to measure anyone. We consider important some things that do not deserve so much attention, what we are doing is leading the person to have a fall. We want to mind other persons to the extent that we are capable of provoking a fall in them for reasons that are not worthy. My brothers, how difficult it is to care for and conserve men for God! There are things that are not important enough to make others fall. Let us care for our brothers and love our brothers. I was praying for someone and I felt very touched and I said to God: "Lord I want to love her as I have loved her sister." The reason was the many adverse circumstances of her life. I could not reach her because of those things that weren’t important, situations which shouldn’t affect me to not express my great love. I know I loved her because I never got tired of fighting for her. Among the brothers of Rome there were problems because of the food (Romans 14: 15, 20). Nowadays, there are other similar problems that do not matter much to consider them important. Paul knew there wasn’t any filthy food because the food is sanctified after praying. But, in those times, among the siblings, there were those who were considered weak. For those who think that it is an offense to eat pork, this brother is considered weak. If someone else eats it, they should hide to do it (Romans 14: 14). Nothing is filthy in itself, there are things that according to the grace are indifferent to us; for example: food, to eat or not eat pork, pants and skirts, long hair, etc. Now, there are things that are really unworldly such as: pornography, suggested jokes, dirty movies (filthy) and every form of immorality. Paul's declaration is to be comprehended at the light of the context. Christians do not contract any spiritual contamination by eating meals that were considered impure by Moses’ law. Now, our behavior should be: loving! But, it seems that we want to interact with others as enemies. When you sit to eat with a weak brother, do you claim your rights, or, with the love you should show for him? If you insist on your legitimate rights of what belongs to you, even knowing that the brother believes that something he is about to eat is bad, then you are not acting out of love. You see, even though we are exempt from the food matter, there are other things we should consider. Our behavior should be according to the love, because love thinks about others and not only in itself. When you come to think about others, you will stop being yourself to help them, to strengthen them and surrender to them. It is unfortunate that nowadays people live with this attitude: "Keep out of my business!" Even if it is not said with the mouth, this is how some react; no one can jump that wall that is rising. Look at yourself and ask yourself, how have you surrendered to others? If there is a meeting at a certain time and you arrive an hour later, well that shows your poor disposition toward others. Do you think about yourself day and night, and only yourself, you and you? If there is no one else in your mind,

then you skip going to church easily, you have only your problems, your situations. You never ask for anyone and you always expect others to worry only for you. It should not be so if we really love. Love yields its legitimate rights in order to promote the welfare of the brothers. A meal is not as important as the spiritual welfare of those for whom Christ died. Our rights are not worthy when we remember that the soul of our brothers was redeemed at a price so great, the precious blood of the Lamb. Then, it is not the dietetic rules what is so important but rather the spiritual realities. The Kingdom of God is the sphere in which God is known as the Supreme Ruler. It is not the external in the kingdom that should concern us, but rather to show that what characterizes us is that we live in a practical justice, by provisions of peace and harmony, by the mentality of joy in the Holy Ghost. Our effort should be for peace and harmony in the Christian community! Instead of provoking others to stumble by insisting in our rights, we should try to edify each other in our most holy faith. God is carrying out a deed in the life of each one of His children. It is terrorizing to think that we could obstruct this deed in the life of a weak brother because of secondary issues. Let us be faithful to God and our brothers! Amen.