Romans 14: ⁰ So why do you condemn another believer? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. ¹¹ For the Scriptures say, “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will confess and give praise to God’”

¹² Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God. ¹³ So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.

¹⁴ I know and am convinced on the authority of the Lord Jesus that no food, in and of itself, is wrong to eat. But if someone believes it is wrong, then for that person it is wrong. ¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ Then you will not be criticized for doing something you believe is good. ¹⁷ For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too. ¹⁹ So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up.

 

at this time.. what they ate was a big deal because the jews still lived by the law of what was unclean and clean... and the gentiles did not.. so the jews would believe the gentiles could not be righteous or holy because they were eating unclean food..

 

while we don't have this issue today.. criticizing one another is really a large issue.. not only in the church.. but all through our lives... when was the last time you said something negative about someone else? for me.. it was this very morning... and I was completely thoughtless when I said it... it was an irrelevant comment... totally unnecessary....

 

if we could learn to eliminate just this one thing from our lives.. negative talk about other people... just think what a difference that would make in how we come across to other people...