Principles of Conscience
1Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. 2One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. 3The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. 6He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. 7For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; 8for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
10But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
11For it is written,
“AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME,
AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD.”
12So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.
Here we see a comparison to weak in faith to person that only eats vegetables. We are instructed not to quarrel with them. God has accepted both strong and weak in faith and has instructed each not to judge one another. For God makes them both stand in His eyes. Who are you to judge Gods elect?
I repeat this verse;
Romans 14:6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
So we see in scripture that whatever day you consider to be the sabbath or whatever type of food you choose to consume or not, as long as you give thanks to God all is well with Him. Don't let someone convince you otherwise or you will become like the Scribes and Pharisee's putting law and ordinance above Gods grace.
Ray Stedman has said that the favorite indoor sport of Christians is trying to change each other. In Romans 14 Paul says we should not endeavor to change one another to suit our preferences, but instead we should change our conduct so as not to offend the weaker brother.
What about you? Do you try to change each other or do you try not to offend the weaker brother?
Verses 1-12 deal with our responsibility to respect the convictions of one another rather than to revise them.
Don't judge your brother. Praise God and give your own account to Him.
Blessings, David
Scripture blog; http://stanfordsancutaryscripturestudies.blogspot.com
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