Romans 14:19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
If we intend to fulfill The Lord’s command to love our neighbor as ourselves, we must realize that even though there are things we may personally feel the liberty to do, for the sake of others who may be stumbled or grieved by them, we will not do them. Pleasing Christ and dying to self for His Name’s sake are the ultimate displays of godly, holy love. The basis of our fellowship in the body of Christ is the salvation we enjoy in Christ, and anything that causes a wedge in fellowship between saints on non-salvation, non-sin issues is either selfishness or pride or both!
On non-sin, non-salvation issues, we all have convictions from the word and conscience that we hold dear. However, none of us are given the green light from God to force our personal convictions on others. Differing convictions on non-sin, non-salvation issues are divine opportunities for the love of God to grow and mature in my life and within our church family. The older that I get in The Lord, the more I realize that the love of Christ causes me to live with more restraint than even my own convictions demand.
1 Corinthians 10:31-33 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
Whether we like it or not, these verses tell us that every single Christian lives their life under a microscope. Our life is the theatre that displays our precious Lord Jesus Christ to the world and to one another in the body. The Christian life is not about me; as Paul said, “…not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20). In order to win others to Christ or help a fellow saint grow in Christ, I will, by the grace of God, remove anything in my life that will be a snare or cause of offense. And as a body of believers claiming to be followers of The Lord Jesus Christ, we have been saved and sealed by The Spirit of God, not to please ourselves, but in order that we might live a life of total surrender before The Lord Jesus in whatever we eat, drink, or do.
