Photo by Meritt Thomas on Unsplash

Genesis 50:15-21
Psalm 103:1-13
Romans 14:1-12
Matthew 18:21-35

At first, this section of Romans seems trivial to us, but the questions about food were hot topics in the early church. Probably the hottest issue had to do with eating meat because much of the meat sold, especially in Rome, was left over from sacrifices made at many of the temples of Roman and Greek gods. Would a Christian be defiled if he ate such meat?

Here, Paul basically answers with a no. If it bothers you, then don’t eat it. If it doesn’t bother you, then eat away. Most Jews who became followers of Jesus continued to practice their strict rules of eating: no meat from false gods, no clams, no shrimp, no chicken in cream sauce, etc. They tended to treat the gentile followers of Jesus as unsaved, or at least half saved. Likewise, the gentiles considered the Jews to be too prissy.

It is to God alone that we have to answer for our actions. ^Phillips This is the key to these 12 verses. God knows that when I was a baby my mother dropped me on my head. He knows that I grew up eating beef liver and onions and thinking it was great. He knows that I had five girlfriends in first grade even thought they never knew it.

So many things happen to us that shape who we are. We control only a few of them. I was born in a small farming community in the United States during the Second World War. I missed the experience of living in a major city or in France, Germany, Italy, Egypt, Russia, Japan. All those experiences would have changed who I am today. I grew up in the large shadow of WWII and thought of it as The War, as did the adults. In 1966 I went to be tested, poked, and probed by the military to see if I was draftable. I was which encouraged me to be more diligent in my college studies and my teaching school which kept me deferred from the draft. Did I doge the draft? Some believed it then and some still do.

Who would I be today if I had been sent to Viet Nam? Would God forgive me for killing a seven-year-old girl because she appeared to have a bomb strapped to her? How about if I had become addicted to heroin?

More to the question in today’s reading, would you forgive me?

Many Christians attack homosexuals, saying that it is a life choice and is condemned by Jesus. No, Jesus had nothing to say about it and maybe, for some it is a choice. Science has established that most homosexuals have a genetic error that places them on the difficult side of the issue. I is generally not just a question of will power.

I will not judge a homosexual Christian. Let God sort it out.

My Grandmother (three of my Grands died before my parents married) I learned years later was abusive of her four children even as adults. Knowing that helped me understand my father more, and my mother as well because she was caught in the flack.

God alone will judge.

If you have read many of my posts, you will know I am not happy with our current President. I am also unhappy with the many Christians who think he is God’s gift to us. Live and let live. I don’t know that God will be too concerned about my voting record. Try your best to pick a good person and remember that Jesus paid almost no attention to government.

Be righteous and do good.

Mike Lawrence