UBF Daily Bread

WE BELONG TO THE LORD

Passage: Romans 14:1~12

Key verse: 8b

The Weak and the Strong

14 Accept the one whose faith is weak,^(A) without quarreling over disputable matters. ²One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.^(B) ³The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt^(C) the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge^(D) the one who does, for God has accepted them. ⁴Who are you to judge someone else’s servant?^(E) To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

⁵One person considers one day more sacred than another;^(F) another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. ⁶Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God;^(G) and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷For none of us lives for ourselves alone,^(H) and none of us dies for ourselves alone. ⁸If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.^(I) ⁹For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life^(J) so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.^(K)

¹⁰You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister^[a]? Or why do you treat them with contempt?^(L) For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.^(M) ¹¹It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’^(N) says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will acknowledge God.’”^[b]^(O)

¹²So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.^(P)

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Footnotes

Romans 14:10 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family; also in verses 13, 15 and 21.
Romans 14:11 Isaiah 45:23

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Source: BibleGateway

1. Accept those whose faith is weak (1-9)

We are never to judge others because of the level of their faith. Some people are going to have weaker faith than we do. Others might have stronger faith than us. Some will have a different faith than us, viewing some days as more or less holy than we do. We should accept our brothers and sisters no matter where they are in their walk of faith. Especially, as long as our differences are on disputable matters, we should love and accept each other. We all belong to the Lord, whatever we do. It was for this very reason that Christ died for us, so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

2. We will give an account of ourselves to God (10-12)

One day, we will all find ourselves before the judgement seat of God. We will all be judged. So, why would we look down on our brother or sister? We are told elsewhere not to judge because we are guilty of the same things. We will stand before God one day and have to give an account of our actions, behavior and words. So rather than worrying about what our brother or sister is doing, we should worry about doing what pleases God.

Prayer: Lord, help me not to look down on others, but to love them and pray for them.

One Word: We live and die before God