We Are the Lord’s

Daily Devotional • July 23

A Reading from Romans 14:1-12

1 Welcome those who are weak in faith but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. 2 Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. 3 Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat, for God has welcomed them. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on slaves of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

5 Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. 6 Those who observe the day, observe it for the Lord. Also those who eat, eat for the Lord, since they give thanks to God, while those who abstain, abstain for the Lord and give thanks to God.

7 For we do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
    and every tongue shall give praise to God.”

12 So then, each one of us will be held accountable.

Meditation

Are we who we say we are?

St. Paul reminds us “we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” As Christians, what we say we believe is important, but what we do and why often says a lot more about what we truly hold to. New life in light of the cross and the resurrection is more than not doing the wrong things. It’s doing the right things and doing them for the right reasons. It is seeking to do the work of the kingdom by honoring God even as we also strive to honor our neighbors. 

If we abstain from something because of conscience, then we should do so for the sake of the Lord, as we should if we do something because of the freedom we have in Christ. Everything we do, including our interaction with others, we are to do as to the Lord. When we don’t, perhaps abstaining to elevate ourselves or exercising a freedom out of spite or to cause another to stumble, then we ourselves have fallen.

Our lives are to commend our new identity to others in what we say and in what we do, in the big moments of life and in the everyday decisions as well. We who claim the Lordship of Christ are to live lives of conviction which witness to the grace and love we receive. In turn, we are to share with our neighbors, mindful that “each of us will be accountable to God.” For we are the Lord’s.

The Rev. Benjamin Hankinson is the director of admissions for Nashotah House Theological Seminary and priest in charge of St. James in West Bend, Wisconsin. Originally from South Carolina, he has also served parishes in the Diocese of Springfield.

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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:

The Diocese of Harare – The Church of the Province of Central Africa
Resurrection South Austin, Austin, Texas

Ben Hankinson