Monday
During Paul’s time there were the Jewish Christians who would only eat kosher meat (food). This was food prepared according to the rituals of the Jewish tradition. Jews won’t eat the blood of an animal. So there were also those Jewish Christians who thought rather than eat meat that I don’t know how it was prepared, they would simply not eat it at all.
Then there was the fear that the meat may have been sacrifice to a pagan god and so it would not be considered acceptable to eat. And of course you had those Christians who believed that all food was from God and because of that, it was good. Don’t worry about what goes into your mouth, it’s the words that come out that are important. (Matthew 15:11)
What is ironic here is that some of the people were criticizing those who only ate vegetable as being weak. What Paul saw was those criticizing were truly the weak brother. It was what they ate or didn’t eat that made someone a weaker Christian, it was their attitude towards one another… remember last chapter – love one another? Somehow this “holier than thou” attitude is rearing its ugly head. I am sure that the ones Paul considered the “weaker” ones, did not see themselves that way. I would bet they thought they were the more mature Christian… after all they aren’t afraid to eat any of the meat. Legalism has a way of making us think that we are more mature and if you who don’t keep the rules the way we do, well then you are just immature. Even though it is true we don’t have to worry about what we put into our mouths, we do need to concern ourselves in how our actions affect others.
Food might not be a pertinent, theological problem in our world, but there certainly are many legalistic debates that Christians today get into. Enough to cause so many divisions within the church. Like baptism and communion… women in the pulpit… we’ve fought over the clothes we wear, what songs to sing, coffee or no coffee in the sanctuary.
So I find it very fascinating how God can turn our thinking around. If we think too highly of ourselves, then we’ve failed the first test, if we think we are very humble… then we’ve now become proud of our humility (ha!) This could get complicated… but here’s the bottom line. God knows our hearts. If I’m doing something that seems wrongs to me… well guess what… it is. It might not be wrong to you… God will guide your thoughts and your actions if you will let him. (see Galatians 5:16)
Grace and Peace
Pastor Kathy