ALIVE OR DEAD, WE ARE HIS
‘One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in his 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 Lord of both the dead and the living.” Romans 14:5-9.
What a comfort! Belonging to someone is one of the deepest needs of the human heart.
Paul settles many issues with one profound declaration – alive or dead, we belong to God! Criticising, judging, controlling, despising (or even the opposite, idolising) would have no place in our lives if we kept in mind this profound truth – we belong to the Lord and He alone has charge of us and the right to direct our lives the way He wants us to go. Of course, this assumes that we are listening to and obeying His voice!
The point is that being a Christian is much more than “signing on” to a creed or joining a club. It is a commitment to following and obeying Jesus as our Master and Lord (supreme authority). It also means that every other believer belongs to Him as well and it is His right, not ours, to decide what they must do and how they must live. We can safely leave them to Him, because “to their own master, servants stand or fall.” Romans 14:4
Naturally, this relates to what other Christians believe and do which falls into the category of non-essentials such as – what to eat and what not to eat, or whether one day is more sacred than another. For them, the more important issue is the matter of conscience. If their conscience is sensitised to doing or not doing what they believe is right but they fail to follow their conscience, to them it is sin.
“…everything that does not come from faith is sin.” Romans 14:23b.
When it comes to deviations from revealed truth which have serious repercussions on our destiny, it is the responsibility of a mature believer to come alongside and gently point the offender in the right direction. However, even then, we cannot force him to respond. He must decide and take the consequences.
“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently…” Galatians 6:1a.
According to Paul, we who believe in Jesus have an indestructible connection with Him and, since He is Lord, it gives Him the right to direct each person’s life in the way He chooses since each one has a unique destiny in Him. This presupposes that each believer maintains that connection by doing what Jesus commanded:
“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:4, 5.
The things that are abhorrent to the Lord; criticising, judging, despising, or controlling, would not be an issue if we were to be more careful to maintain our connection with Jesus instead of trying to keep others in line. Confidence in Him must extend to being content to allow Him to be Lord of their lives as well as ours. If we insist on trying to control others, we are in fact telling the Lord that He is incompetent to do the job. How unthinkable is that!
Our all-controlling motive should be that Jesus died to pay the debt of sin and I can add nothing to what He did. “It is finished!” says it all. Whatever else we consider an issue is peripheral and irrelevant – bottom line!
Acknowledgement
Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.