Romans 14:1-6

“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.” vs. 1 

Congregations are full of people with varying opinions about any number of practices and beliefs. Paul had discovered that the Romans regularly got fired up about their diets. Some refused to eat meat because it came from pagan sacrifices. Others thought that was foolish. For them eating meat wasn’t a faith issue! So the meat-eaters were battling the vegetarians, and calling them spiritually weak.

And it wasn’t just about diets! Some also battled about worship practices, things like fasting or the proper words to use in public worship. And these weren’t minor skirmishes. The arguments were threatening the unity of the Body of Christ and undermining the mission of the congregation. 

Since we aren’t likely troubled by these issues anymore we might be tempted to think that opinions are no longer an issue for the Body. And of course that is sheer foolishness. Only now it’s not diets that are driving people apart, it’s the radical differences in our political opinions. It isn’t that we argue about them in our congregations, we can’t even express them. Fractures have become commonplace among people of faith.

If we were to apply Paul’s wisdom to our situation we would say, “All are welcome in our community. Red or blue, we don’t care. What counts is our common kinship to Christ, the Lord of us all!”

Thought for the Day:  When does sharing political opinions become difficult?