Temple of God | October 12
Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.
For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.
Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.
He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.
For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.
For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Romans 14:1-3; 6-9
Father, our bodies are the place where the Spirit abides and therefore we are the Temple of God. If we decide to be vegetarians, or not, Your word teaches us not to let that become an issue. We are told that we need not worry about the other person’s eating habits.
You teach us elsewhere that it is not what enters into the stomach that defiles a man, it is that which proceeds from the heart. What we eat and what we drink may or may not be healthy (we get to make choices) but what we say and the way we behave must be consistent with Your expectations.
Your word says that if we eat, we eat as unto the Lord, if we speak, we speak as unto the Lord. Father, may we “Do all things as unto the Lord”. What a perfect yardstick for measuring our thoughts and actions.
Help us, today, to take care of the body you have given us and to be an effective witness, one that presents ourselves as a Temple of God. Give us, we pray, the self-discipline, buoyed by the power of the Holy Spirit to be as You Jesus, full of joy, humility and love. In Your name we pray, amen.
Bruce Caldwell
The Sola Scriptura Project
