A New Devotion - Small Stuff

Here's a new devotion. You can find a recording of this devotion at the bottom of the page. 

Romans 14:1-12

Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. 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, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God." So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

Small Stuff

Often it seems as though Christians are more interested in fighting over their differences than in celebrating their shared faith. Of course, this is really not hard to understand. Since churches have become competing franchises, we’re probably not going to get many people to switch brands if we’re talking about all the things we have in common. And so, many Christians, who naturally see themselves as strong in the faith, believe their mission is to convert those they consider weak. Of course, to do that, there really has to be a lot of judging and condemning, with believers doing battle over big stuff, you know, like the amount of water to use when baptizing and the sole Christian position on a plethora of secular political issues. And as the rhetoric and passions heat up, our unity as members of Christ’s body breaks down.

And I’ll tell you, that’s why I think it’s crucial for us to remember these words Paul wrote to the Romans, that we have no business arguing with our brothers and sisters over matters of secondary importance. As a matter of fact, there’s only two things that aren’t secondary: first, that we trust in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit; and second, that we’ve been called to love God and to love our neighbors. You see, those are the two things that should be our focus. As a matter of fact, outside of who we trust and how we live, everything else is actually pretty insignificant. And paraphrasing Richard Carlson, we should never sweat out the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff.