God's Acceptance

"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? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. 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. 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. For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 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. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living."~Romans 14:1-9 NLT


Recently, I sat with a friend discussing some different theological understandings about how different Christians denominations understand their faith. Being a Lutheran, God's grace and love are at the center of everything we're taught and believe. Others preach fire and brimstone with the fear of God at the center. The variations are endless. Within each denomination, different theological understandings lead Christians to disagree on even the most basic Biblical Sacraments like Communion and Baptism. These are only two examples of many, many, more!


The verses above are what every Christian should pull out of their pockets when they find themselves divided rather than united on this mission to serve our Lord and Savior with other Christians. God is reassuring us that if we are "fully convinced" in our minds that we are properly worshiping and serving Him, He understands that we are faithful to Him. This doesn't give us a free pass to not grow and learn, but it does give us comfort in knowing that even when we don't agree with one another God knows that we are faithful in the theological roots that we have come to know Him through.


In a college speech class, I did my final speech on capital punishment. I was against it, and another student prepared a speech supporting capital punishment. I was determined to do whatever it took to sway the class my direction with my speech. I began by turning off the lights, asking the class to put their feet flat on the floor and their hands flat on the desk, and finally, telling them they could not move. My speech began in the back of the room talking to them about a fictional crime they had committed, and because of that crime the execution that was now going to take place. I tried to help them feel what the criminal feels before the execution begins. I talked about the sad childhood the convict had endured leading them to make so many wrong choices. As I continued this exercise, I told them that I was now going to flip the switch and their lives would end. I turned on the lights at the moment the execution was to take place. I walked to the front of the room, and it was the most captive audience I have ever had. I even had a couple of students with tears in their eyes. I won the class over to my way of thinking and an A+ on my speech. But, was I truly right about whether capital punishment should or should not ever be used? Not everyone feels the same way. I had found a way to sway the hearts and minds of the majority of the class to a different understanding.


Words and teachings have great power. After my speech, a student came up to me and shared their view of capital punishment had totally changed, and they felt they could never support it again. You see, what we are taught and how we are taught have a profound effect on who we are and what we believe. The Bible is at the center of all Christian churches. Each denomination decides where they will put the emphasis of their teachings, and each person reading the Bible interprets it a little differently. The teachings of the Old Testament and the New Testament often are in conflict with one another, and at times they complement one another. Quite honestly, you can't just pick a verse out of a hat to tell others that they are right or wrong. If that were true, women should still be wearing head coverings and  growing long hair. Anyone wearing a tattoo would be considered sinful for their action. That would take a lot of us out of the Heaven pool. It's as if the Bible is sometimes used as a weapon rather than the love letter from God that I feel it is intended to be. The Bible is so much more complex than that. It's a woven book of understandings. Each thread needs another to allow even more meaning to evolve. You count on the church leaders to guide you, but you still have the responsibility to discern the Word on your own. 


Once you've come to your own understandings through church leadership and study, God knows that you have come to be "fully convinced" in your mind that your life and actions are a product of your own individual environmental understanding. So, regardless of what denomination of the Christian church you attend, just remember that God knows your mind and heart. I'm guessing that He doesn't want our divisions in understandings to draw lines in the sand, but He would rather see us come together to build a sand castle of faith built with many different rooms. Each has its place in His Kingdom. Have faith that if your heart is in the right place, God will take care of the rest. Don't let divisions of Biblical theology take away from the strength that can be found in Christian diversity as we all learn from one another and this wonderful gift from God called the Bible.


Heavenly Father of All Christians,


As Christian churches find themselves interpreting your Word in different ways, we ask that You give us each individual direction in living our lives with actions that please You. Help us to set aside differences in theology as we come to understand that You know us better than we could ever know ourselves. Guide us to work together to further Your Kingdom.


Amen.