One short verse tucked into the middle of this chapter carried a wallop when I read it. So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God (12).
I know that, I understand there will be a judgment day… and yet the conciseness of that sentence struck me.
I will give an account to God of how I treated brothers and sisters in Christ.
The context of this chapter is about dealing with ‘disputable matters’… nonessential matters, like the food we eat or the special days we celebrate, over which brothers and sisters in Christ might disagree. It was the context that informed me to add the words “how I treated brothers and sisters in Christ.”
God cares about how I relate to others in His family. God cares about how I treat people with whom I disagree. I’m thinking it would behoove me to inventory and consider how I treat others. This way I can amend my ways before my day of account comes…
Jesus, give me Your eyes and Your vantage point to see how I treat others… and today, particularly others, in Your body. Where I ‘judge’ them and believe myself to be superior, show me that I might take on your attitude of love and care and change my ways. I am not perfect and I do not always love as You would have me love.
And where I get it right and do treat others with dignity and respect and compassion. Help me not to grow proud and give me strength to live like that more and more. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
A brief note on Romans
Romans in an incredible book filled with the riches and ways of God. Culturally the Roman church had undergone incredible upheaval in recent years. Its founding was primarily as a Jewish Church, but maybe a decade prior to the letter Jews were expelled from
On a number of occasions in this letter, Paul addresses factions, weaker and stronger brothers, and the like, arguing that they learn to live not merely for themselves but for the whole of the church. We will see this play out one more time in the reading for Tuesday…
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