This morning I am once again reading and thinking about some verses from Paul's letter to the Romans. He communicated so clearly about the Gospel of Grace, and how we should individually embrace this gospel. Here are the verses - Romans 14:1-4 NIV:
[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. [3] 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. [4] 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."
I love verse 4, "Who are you to judge someone else's servant?" We must learn to trust that the Lord is able to be Lord over and in each other's lives. He has different calls, different plans and a unique relationship with each and every one of us, and sometimes His call and direction for some else is pretty different than what He is doing in our life. We need to learn to be accepting of His ability to deal with each of us in a different way.
Secondly, I REALLY love verse 1 and wish that we, as a church, would learn to embrace this fully. We must learn to embrace those who are just starting in their faith walk, those who are struggling, and those who are just learning what it means to live a life of faith, without hitting them with a bunch of rules about how to live life as a Christian. We must give each other grace to grow in areas where the Lord has already touched our lives, and grace to embrace things that God hasn't called us to change in our own lives. I wish Paul had listed some of the disputable matters, as that would have been helpful, but it would just create another list of rules, that we are so fond of creating and following, so we can keep score and judge our behaviour against someone else's - which brings us back to verse 4.
Our walk with the Lord really is about our relationship with Him. Each of us will find a unique experience within that relationship, for we are each unique. My relationship and interactions with the Lord are quite different than what my honey experiences. She hears him differently than I do, our prayer times are different from each other and the things the Lord is doing in my life, are not the same as He is doing in hers! It is amazing to me, how gently and perfectly the Lord deals with each of us, and yet how very different His ways are, even though we are in a deeply intimate relationship with each other. He truly loves and directs each of us as we need, and that is so encouraging to me.
My prayer is that I would learn to leave the Lord to His Lordship over everyone else, and I would focus on my own walk with Him, and not compare myself to others, or make judgments about their walks based on what I see! I know for me, the majority of what the Lord has been doing and saying to me are between He and I, and externally most likely not evident. I just thought of an interesting analogy - when a house is being built, it an look complete on the outside and still have months of finish working being done on the inside, all of which would be hidden from external view. Even though things don't seem to be changing externally, internally the house is changing radically. Can I trust that the Lord is able to do the same in the lives of those around me, without my knowledge?
Finally, I was just thinking about this some more and realized that much of the work the Lord does in my life is hidden from my view, as I am so often not aware of the spiritual realm, and the Lord clearly is doing things in my spirit, without my knowledge. I have many times seemed dry and unmoving in my faith walk, seeming to not move for months at a time and then suddenly make some significant progress! I believe that is due to all the work the Lord has been doing in my spirit, but I was just unaware. There are times that people have asked me what the Lord was doing in my life and I have no clue. Then, after several months I look back and can clearly see that the Lord was at work the whole time, and even see the specific things He was doing at the very time the person asked me (which I was not aware of at that time).
I guess I could summarize this whole reflection by simply saying I need to give myself and everyone around me grace to follow the Lord in whatever way He is leading. I need to trust that He is the Lord of my life, and even though I may not see it, He is at work always in my life, conforming me into His likeness. I can trust that He will lead me and guide me, and that He will do the same for every brother and sister in this great Body of Christ. Finally, I need to lay down my judgmental ways and trust that the Lord is at work in ways that are not known or hidden from my view.
Amen!
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