为我们的不同感谢神

“吃的人，是为主吃的，因他感谢神；不吃的人，是为主不吃的，也感谢神。” - 罗 14:6

　　保罗说，我们无论作什么，都是为主而作的。保罗这样说，是要针对当时罗马教会会友当中意见的分歧，他们有些吃肉，也有些相信不吃肉是较为圣洁的。他们的问题不是吃肉与否，因为这两组人都是以忠心和感恩的心去实践他们的信仰的。他们的问题，乃是他们用什么态度来评判对方。

　　小时候我们的邻居是天主教徒，当时我留意到他们的习惯是在星期六去教会，在星期日割草。而我们一家，却是在星期六割草，在星期日去教会的。我回想起这个，是因为我最近探望一位在我事奉的教会附近长大的女士，她是一位八十八岁的爱尔兰天主教徒。她告诉我，她很晚才明白到，如果你不是爱尔兰天主教徒，你也可以成为基督徒的，我们都不禁笑起来。接着我们分享自己的信仰故事，我们谈到对耶稣的爱。我们也坦白承认，当年轻时，我们都认为对方是不会被神所爱的——我们那时的想法何等错谬！

　　我们所拥有的和我们整个人，都是从神而来并属于神的。所以，无论作什么，我们若是以忠心和感恩的心去作，我们便是蒙神祝福的子民了。

慈爱的神，虽然我们常会遇到与我们很不同的人，惟愿我们手所作的及口所说的，都充满恩典，能够使祢得着荣耀。奉耶稣的名祷告，阿们。

1信心软弱的，你们要接纳，但不要辩论所疑惑的事。
2有人信百物都可吃；但那软弱的，只吃蔬菜。
3吃的人不可轻看不吃的人；不吃的人不可论断吃的人；因为神已经收纳他了。
4你是谁，竟论断别人的仆人呢？他或站住或跌倒，自有他的主人在；而且他也必要站住，因为主能使他站住。
5有人看这日比那日强；有人看日日都是一样。只是各人心里要意见坚定。
6守日的人是为主守的。吃的人是为主吃的，因他感谢神；不吃的人是为主不吃的，也感谢神。
7我们没有一个人为自己活，也没有一个人为自己死。
8我们若活着，是为主而活；若死了，是为主而死。所以，我们或活或死总是主的人。

Thanks For Grace

"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." — Romans 14:6

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Whatever we do, says Paul, we do for the Lord. Paul is addressing differences in people who were part of the church in Rome. Some were meat eaters, and others believed it was more holy not to eat meat. The problem wasn’t with what they were doing, because both groups were carrying out their faith practices with dedication and thanksgiving to God. The problem was in how they judged one another.

I remember noticing as a child how our neighbors who were Catholic went to church on Saturday evenings and mowed their grass on Sunday. My family mowed our grass on Saturday and went to church on Sunday. That memory came home to me recently as I visited with an 88-year-old Irish Catholic woman who had grown up near the church I serve. We laughed as she told me that it took her a while to realize that it was possible to be a Christian even if you weren’t an Irish Catholic. We shared about our faith stories, and we both spoke of our love for Jesus. We also both admitted that earlier in our lives we would have thought of each other as outside the loving embrace of God. How wrong we had been!

All that we have and are comes from God and belongs to God. Therefore we are blessed as God’s people when all that we do is done in dedication and thanksgiving to God.

Prayer

Gracious God, may all that I do and say today be filled with grace and give glory to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.