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Romans 14:19

Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.

Personal Challenge

Why should we be doing the things that God calls us to do in our lives? Initially it is because we love our God and desire to please Him and in our own way give back to Him some of the gift He has given us. It is never possible to repay Him for His great mercy and love that He has poured out on us. As we continue to live this way, we begin to understand that part of this way of living also ends up edifying those around us because our love for God overflows for love for those whom we come into contact. This whole section in the book of Romans talks about food and how eating certain foods at certain times can be a stumbling block to others. This was so important in the time when much of the food available was leftover from sacrifices to pagan gods. We do not have that situation today, but for those of us who practice fasting in our church life, there are similar issues, for both those who fast according to very strict rules and those who fast according to more flexible rules. Both parties can have a tendency to look down on the other if they take their eyes off of God and set them on their brothers and sisters. This is why Paul teaches us to pursue the things which make for peace and which edify one another. It is the things of God that are important and not the things of man. This applies to so many other things in our church life other than food. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Romans 14:12-13

So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.

Personal Challenge

In our desire to follow Christ we strive to love our neighbor for by doing this we glorify God and bring His light into the world. This is the reason that we are not to judge others but to be prepared to give an account of ourselves to God. Not only are we not to judge our fellow human, but we should strive to live our lives in such a way so as to not be a stumbling block to another causing them to fall. Glory be to God!

Romans 14:7-10

For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Personal Challenge

We are not alone in this life that we live. We are synergistically connected to everyone else on this earth. Our actions, and inactions, behave as a pebble dropped in a lake that sends out a ripple to the extremities of the lake, touching every inch of the shoreline. In all of this, we are also not our own, we are the Lords, which is why Christ died for us. If we are all His, both the living and the dead, then it makes sense that only He has the right to be the judge over our actions and inactions. Again, it is not our responsibility, or right, to be judge jury, and executioner. Glory be to God alone!

Romans 14:3-4

Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

Personal Challenge

Every single person that I know, especially me, has enough “bad” stuff that we are mixed up in with our lives that we have no room to be judging another. As my former priest would often say, “Look at your own plate.” We have many disciplines in the Orthodox church that we practice to try to teach ourselves to submit fully to our God. One of these is fasting. We do not fast to check off a box in the godliness checklist. We do it to discipline our bodies and our minds to hunger after our Lord. It is easy to look at those around us during our fasting times and accuse them of breaking the fast. By doing this, we have just broken our own discipline by judging our brother. We are not to judge one another. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Romans 13:1

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

Personal Challenge

Here is one area that I personally believe that the modern Christian is failing to follow the teachings of our faith. It has become acceptable to deride our government, even to the point of participating in an insurrection, in the name of God. God has commanded us, both here by Paul and earlier in the scriptures by Jesus, himself, to submit to the authority of the government. God expects this because He is the one who has put that government in place. If the government is not moving in the direction that glorifies God then we have the right to exercise the tools of our citizenship here on earth, such as voting, to change it. We do not have the right to be subversive and destructive. By doing this with the earthly governments, we eventually digress to the state where we also believe we can behave this way with the leadership of the Church, God forbid! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy on those who profess you as Lord and yet live with allegiance to the ways of this world!

Romans 12:14-18

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

Personal Challenge

Paul continues to challenge us on how to live righteous Christian lives. He sums it up at the end with the admonition to live peaceably with all men. How do we do this? We do this by blessing those who persecute us and not cursing them; rejoicing with those who rejoice; weeping with. those who weep; being of the same mind toward each other, associating with the humble, and not getting hung up on ourselves. We do not repay evil with evil and should always be focused on the good things of God. We must live our lives aggressively for God. Glory be to God!

Romans 12:12

rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;

Personal Challenge

If we are supposed to go through life loving our God and our neighbor, putting their needs and desires above ours, how do we do that? If we are to put up with the persecutions that the world will levy against us, how do we do that? Paul gives us some guidelines here. We rejoice in hope, the hope that is in our Lord Jesus Christ and the faith that we are in His hands eternally. Through that hope we can be patient in the tribulation that comes our way knowing that in the end we will be glorified in our Lord. And in the process of doing this we continue stead­fastly in prayer to our Lord and King. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Romans 12:9

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

Personal Challenge

Paul makes it clear that we are to hate the evil things of this world and to cling to the things that are good. Many have gotten good at the first piece of this but also taken it to the extreme that their hatred of the evil things has carried over to the hatred of the person doing the evil things. We must remember that he starts this admonition off by telling us to love without hypocrisy. He is basing this on Jesus telling us to love God and to love our neighbor above all else, we are to hate the evil, but still love the person who has been created in the image of God that we might win them over to that which is good, the love of God. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Romans 12:4-5

For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

Personal Challenge

It is often difficult for us to remember that God’s Church is comprised of many parts, many people, that make up one unified body. All these parts are needed in order to complete the work that God has called the Church to do. When we get to the place where we exclude, even denigrate, other Christian faith practices because they are different than us, then we have become enemies of the Church. We should always be on the guard for erroneous teaching and heresies, but be loving and supportive of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Glory be to God!