13 So stop judging each other. Instead, this is what you should decide: never put a stumbling block or obstacle in the way of your brother or sister. 14 I know and I’m convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is wrong to eat in itself. But if someone thinks something is wrong to eat, it becomes wrong for that person. 15 If your brother or sister is upset by your food, you are no longer walking in love. Don’t let your food destroy someone for whom Christ died. 16 And don’t let something you consider to be good be criticized as wrong. 17 God’s kingdom isn’t about eating food and drinking but about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever serves Christ this way pleases God and gets human approval.
19 So let’s strive for the things that bring peace and the things that build each other up. 20 Don’t destroy what God has done because of food. All food is acceptable, but it’s a bad thing if it trips someone else. 21 It’s a good thing not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything that trips your brother or sister. 22 Keep the belief that you have to yourself—it’s between you and God. People are blessed who don’t convict themselves by the things they approve. 23 But those who have doubts are convicted if they go ahead and eat, because they aren’t acting on the basis of faith. Everything that isn’t based on faith is sin.
Reflection
It would be very difficult to work for peace if you are judging others for their actions and/or beliefs (convictions). Not just difficult but it seems utterly impossible. Having an alcoholic father I really connected with Paul’s admonition in verse 14:20 “Don’t destroy what God has done because of good. All food is acceptable, but it’s a bad thing if it trips someone else.” My
dad wrestled with alcohol off and on during his life. I recall that he was in and out of rehab and AA as I was growing up. One of his more “memorable” relapses happened when we celebrated my sister’s engagement with champagne. When he finally was able to maintain
sobriety during the last 10 years of his life I got to really know and love my dad and appreciate the challenge he had lived with all his life. It was difficult to not judge him as I saw him in and out of AA, but my mom was an angel, holding the family together through it all. As I read this
passage I realize that whether my mother knew it or not she was living according to these verses: “ 19 So let’s strive for the things that bring peace and the things that build
each other up. 20 Don’t destroy what God has done because of food. All
food is acceptable, but it’s a bad thing if it trips someone else.”
There are many references throughout scripture about food being clean or
unclean. In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote that nothing is wrong to eat
in and of itself. But if someone thinks something is wrong to eat, it becomes
wrong for that person. I know that my father like most alcoholics was
challenged by thinking he could “handle it.” I guess that is why the first step
in AA states “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives
had become unmanageable.” Countless times he started those steps
before he finally completed them and really changed his life. His other
“addiction” was to cigarettes, and those 12 steps helped him conquer that
also.
by Kathleen Stolz
For Pondering and Prayer
Do you or someone in your life have an addiction? Paul has some wonderful advice in Romans 14:13&17 – “Stop judging each other. Instead, this is what you should decide: never put a stumbling block or obstacle in the way of your brother or sister. … God’s kin-dom isn’t about
eating food and drinking but about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Prayer: Gracious, Loving God, thank you for the love of family and friends who
have helped us face tests in our lives.
(Take a moment to name those people in your life.)
Thank you for giving us the strength to persevere in overcoming the
obstacles we each encounter.
(Take a moment to reflect on the obstacles you have had.)
And thank you for the love of parents who teach us how to grow into
responsible adults even amid their own challenges.
(Take a moment to give thanks for your parents and other mentors.) Amen.