Today is August 14.


The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.  
 
Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence. And say, “Come Holy Spirit.”   
  
Today’s reading is from the book of Romans, chapter 14.  
 

Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 
  


The Apostle Paul is guiding the church in Rome about their posture with one another when they disagreed about ‘disputable matters’. Disputable matters would be those practices we have as Christians that we follow according to our own conscience. They aren’t over primary matters of orthodoxy, but things that are of secondary importance. In this case, he’s talking about certain dietary limitations some Christians put on themselves, but that other Christians didn’t feel were necessary. Paul is helping to define their posture of love, service, and humility toward one another… even when they disagreed about certain things. As you come to prayer today, search your heart for any places where you feel ‘in dispute or disagreement’ with a Christian sister or brother.  
  
In some ways, it’s comforting to remember that Christians through the ages have struggled with disputable matters, quarreling. In other ways, it’s a frustrating truth that even those of us who confess ‘Jesus is Lord’ can disagree about so many things! We live in a cultural climate of great dispute. Great disagreement. Listen again to Paul’s exhortation and ask the Holy Spirit to draw your attention to the posture He calls us to as His followers.  
  
I pray that we followers of Jesus would have great spiritual sensitivity to ‘know when we are no longer acting in love’ toward one another. Are there ‘matters of dispute’ in today’s church that you find particularly distressing? Bring those concerns to God and ask for his people and his church to be marked by love and unity in Christ.  
 
Music: "All The Same" - Vineyard Worship - (YouTube)