I love reading Romans 15:13, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. The more we trust in God, the more we can have peace and joy in our lives. I have often thought about how different my life would be without God in my life. I honestly do not know what my life would be like without Him. He has given me comfort through some of the worst times in my life. When I felt all alone I always knew He was right there beside me with His arms wrapped around me and telling me it would be ok. May we always feel God’s presence in our lives no matter how alone we may be.
2013 Day 130 – Romans 14-16, Proverbs 22:17-29
10 Friday May 2013
Posted in Daily Reading
Daily Devotion 
I love all of chapter 14. Stan had an incredible message specifically about this chapter, and I go back and listen to it all the time. Living in this kingdom in unity is all about giving up your “rights”. It’s hard as Americans to do this because this whole “rights” issue has become so strong. We carry this idea that it’s my right to do this, or my right to do that etc… but if those “rights” aren’t balanced by love, what’s the point? We end up infringing on other people. We end up hurting other people. And that is not acceptable, especially in the context God’s kingdom and our interaction with fellow believers. This chapter makes it very clear that there is vast freedom in the realm of God’s grace, but it also makes it clear that all believers are at different levels of faith and all come with different world views. And we MUST be understanding. Stan shares his story of growing up conservative pentecostal, and how the women had to wear dresses or skirts and couldn’t cut their hair and men couldn’t let their hair touch their collars. We look at that in our Nashville Rockstar church paradigm and think that’s dumb, and we might even judge those folks. But they are living out of a heartfelt faith that this is what God has prescribed. Putting them down or judging them is not loving. You cannot live in unity when you come to these types of differences with that type of attitude. It would be wrong for me to show up at their church in pants with the expressed effort to show them that it’s OK for women to wear pants. It would be wrong of me to go into a catholic church in Italy in a sleeveless shirt. It would be wrong of me to go to a church of Christ church and demand they play instruments. And it would be just as wrong for these people to come to my church and demand that I do what they do. These are not core belief issues. These are issues of preference. And if I try to make the Pentecostals wear pants and cut their hair, that is sin on MY part. Paul makes it very clear that God will lead all true believers to right living. Who am I to get in the way? How dare I put doubt in the minds of other believers about their heartfelt convictions? And in the same vein, just because someone comes to me with a different belief on preferential issues, if I allow them to persuade me to go against my core convictions, it is also sin on my part. Verse 23 is very clear about this:
23 But if you do have doubts about what you eat, you are going against your beliefs. And you know that is wrong, because anything you do against your beliefs is sin.
Can we just plaster Romans 14 on the walls of every church? Heck, all over the walls of my own bedroom as a daily reminder! 🙂