Thoughts From Romans 14 - Part 3

 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
    every tongue will acknowledge God.’”

12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Rom.14:10-12

            The whole issue of "judging" is confusing to Christians and the world alike. On the one hand both groups can quote verses like "judge not lest you be judged" and "take the plank out of your own eye before you remove the speck from others". On the other hand we are told to judge rightly and to judge people's actions to decide who we can let into our life and who it's best to avoid. Don't we say to our kids "choose good friends"? How can they do that without judging?

          This isn't meant to dive deep into "judging" but rather give one insight from this passage. Paul equates judging someone with treating them with contempt. In other words, if we are looking down on a person, feeling superior to someone, feeling or expressing disdain for someone based on their actions, we are judging or being judgmental. Our calling is to love people. If we are judging fellow believers, especially in this context, the debatable issue has only served as the trigger to expose the darkness of our hearts and our lack of love.

         For example, let's say a brother loves an ice-cold beer or two or three while watching a sporting event. For me, that's difficult because growing up in Wisconsin, the Lutherans and Catholics drank and Christians didn't. That's the way I was raised. For me to consider myself a superior Christian to them because I don't, or to question whether they are truly saved would be wrong. I just need to follow my conscience, and they follow theirs and still enjoy hanging out together.

        I can picture movie or TV clips where a frustrated person fumes at another and says, "You had one job!" Throughout these last few chapters of Romans, Paul is trying to make the point, "You have one job - love people! How do you keep messing it up?" Knowing Paul, he might even be fuming. Let debatable issues like drinking, smoking, Halloween, Santa Claus, Harry Potter, swim wear, Sunday activities, King James Version, views on evolution, women in ministry, reformed theology, CNN vs. Fox, political party affiliations, contraceptive choices, day or night of worship services, capital punishment, capitalism vs. socialism, handling of the border, the list goes on... let those issues be used to challenge our ability to truly love as Jesus has commanded us to.