2 CHRONICLES 29:1-36
ROMANS 14:1-23
PSALM 24:1-10
PROVERBS 20:12
Romans 14:1 Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.
Romans 14:5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.
We are all at different places in our walk with God. We also all have different weaknesses and temptations. There are things in the world that we can have our own convictions and opinions on that are "disputable matters". Here it is about eating meat sacrificed to idols or food the is "unclean". For us there are always things that people in the church will argue over or judge others for. Dancing, watching movies and tv, listening to Christian music, going to a bar or having a drink. The list can go on and on. It is not about what we do, or when we do it, but it is about our heart. God knows our hearts and what distracts us from God and what does not. He knows what He has convicted each of us about and only He has the right to decide what is right and wrong for each of us. It is wrong for us if it takes your eyes off of God. Those are the things we will have a conviction of mind. Because as we walk with God we will recognize the things that distracted us from that walk.
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. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If 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.
We are not to live for ourselves alone but live for the Lord and if we do that we can walk in confidence that we belong to Him and can turn to Him for direction in what disputable matters are.
Romans 14:19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
One way to be on the right side of handling disputable matters in the church is to do all things in a way that leads to peace and mutual edification. That may mean that there will be times that something you don't do something that would normally not be a problem for you just because you are with someone whom it is a problem for. That is what would lead to peace and mutual edification.
Psalm 24:1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
Everything is the Lord's. Maybe this is another way to look at the fact that not everything is a problem for everyone. If the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, then it can all be used and accessed for peace and mutual edification if it is done through a life lived for Christ. There are people everywhere who need to know God and many of them are in places and around things that some might consider "bad", but God can reach anyone anywhere. So, for some it is possible for them to be in and around things that others might avoid to be used by God for His good.
Proverbs 24:12 Ears that hear and eyes that see—
the Lord has made them both.
He can give the lost ears to hear and eyes to see Him through the life of a person living for Christ even in the darkest of places.
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