Romans 14:15 (NLT)
And if another believer is distressed by what you eat, you are not acting in love if you eat it. Don’t let your eating ruin someone for whom Christ died.
Yesterday we talked about the fact that we are selfish creatures. We talked about how we can get really bent out of shape when someone confronts us about something we don’t think is wrong. As examples, we looked at smoking, drinking, and gorging ourselves at the Chinese buffet.
There are some things in this life that the bible does not mention specifically. While the Bible says that you shouldn’t be a drunkard, it doesn’t mention having one or two drinks after work. While the Bible says that gluttony is a deadly sin, it doesn’t mention working hard and eating right for 6 days and rewarding one’s self with the Chinese buffet on Saturdays. You won’t, to my knowledge, find any mention of cigarettes in the Bible.
So you’re in the clear, right? Maybe not…
Even though you don’t feel like smoking is wrong, remember that someone sees it as a deadly habit and is trying to quit. Even though you don’t feel like drinking a beer in your easy chair after work is wrong, remember that someone is struggling with alcoholism. Even though you don’t feel like gorging yourself at the Chinese buffet every Saturday afternoon is wrong, remember that someone is struggling with their weight and the consequences it has on their health.
These things may seem meaningless and even a little bit silly to you but like we’ve discussed before, every decision we make has eternal ramifications. Every single decision.
That being said, we can see that Paul isn’t really talking about food in this passage. Paul is talking about the call we find ingrained into every aspect of the Gospel story of Jesus Christ. A call to leave self out of every equation and love others more than we love ourselves.
In the words of Paul, let us not let our selfishness ruin someone for whom Christ died.
