Month: September 2026

Be thou my Vision Lord of my heart, High King of Heaven my treasure thou art.

” Am I truly your treasure? in what ways do you know and are certain that I am your treasure? It is easy to say words of love and adoration, but the genuine proof of their reality lies in the way you live and think, the choices you make, where your thoughts and actions are directed for most of the day. Remember Romans 12:1 true worship means giving not only our thoughts and words to God but our whole bodies, our whole lives. Difficult? That is why I have transformed your mind and given my Holy Spirit to help you.”

Chapter 14 is perhaps a chapter that is not given nearly enough attention to. The theme of the interaction of the members of the church for the benefit of the whole continues. Paul is busy spelling out the details of the overall instruction of what it means to love one another. The theme of the whole chapter is directed at how we see and interact with each other in the church, especially focussed on the grey areas where people so easily condemn each other.

There are two areas he addresses: food and drink; special days, like the Sabbath. He does so against the backdrop of weaker and stronger brothers in the faith. It is one continuous thought but we will deal with the chapter in two parts. Scan the whole of ch 14 but focus on the first 12 verses.

As an aside may I say that I have observed that these type of issues often cause more division in the church than most others.

The underlying principle that we have to keep in mind lies in vs 12. Each of you will give an account of himself to God. So that points back to the fact that when we condemn people for behaviour which we don’t approve of, we are taking up the position of God.

The problem of food and keeping special days of course highlights the difference between the Gentile believers and the Jewish believers that Paul is facing. But we still have those issues today in the church. From the food perspective we have the issue of whether it is OK to drink wine. But also more and more people are becoming focussed on not eating meat and following vegetarian and vegan diets. Not so prominent is the discussion on the importance of the Sabbath and other “holy days”.

The principle Paul highlights in these first12 vv is that the “stronger” brother has the freedom to eat what he likes and not be limited by regarding certain days as special. It is up to the stronger brother to avoid making an issue of these things. It is the one depicted as the weaker brother who is likely to judge. Ultimately the principle is the same for both, clearly voiced in v 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant ? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

And in vs 10 For we will all stand before God’s judgement seat. And vs 12 So then each of. Us will have to give an account of himself to God.

What Paul is saying, we must recognise that it is God who is the ultimate judge and He decides what is right so we must remember that before we criticise others in these grey areas. This does not take away the responsibility we have towards others to minister to them if they’re openly sinning in other areas.

This is such a tricky area, but nevertheless one we should consider carefully. The ultimate purpose of the command to love remains supreme and should be demonstrated by the unity we, as believers show towards the outside world. That unity remains God’s aim as Jesus said in John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another. It is the important role of the stronger brother to help the weaker brother feel secure in his faith and benefit from the communal spirit.

More on this subject next time. In the meantime may God bless each one of you.

Love lifted me, when nothing else could help love lifted me.

”Yes I am the embodiment of love, I represent the whole concept of love in my being. Remember in 1 John “God is love”. My being cannot be separated from my attitude towards you, which leads to the way we can interact. As you learn more about me you are also learning more about love. So the concept that “ Love is the fulfilment of the law”, Simply recognises that the theme of love should control all our interactions and your interaction with each other and the world. When you doubt ask the question” Does this action or attitude reflect my love?”

As we pursue the consequences of living a life that has been transformed by the renewing of our minds, we have come to a focal point where we should recognise the importance of love being the guiding principal for our lives and our relationships both with each other and the Lord. Please read Romans chapter :8-14. We need to remember verse 10 which described love as the fulfillment of the law, to see the relevance of versus 11 to 14.

i was reminded again this week how important it is for us to remember, when we are having our devotions that they are more than just words on paper, as important as that source may be, but that we are meeting with our living God and interacting with him. It is very easy to slip into the mode of just trying to understand the script and forgetting their aim to understanding and experiencing our love relationship with our Saviour.

Today’s few verses from 11 to 14, act as a powerful motivation for us to make this way of living out out relationship with God by demonstrating our love for our Saviour and for each other as a way of living that is in line with God‘s will for us. The New Testament reminds us continuously that the world is rushing towards a conclusion of judgement and salvation when Jesus comes again. Since 2000 years have past it is easy forget the urgency. While He tarries we may pass from this life at any moment. So there is no room for complacency.

“The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.” So let us “Rather clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ”.

May God bless each one of you this week.

Christ the sure and steady anchor in the fury of the storm.

” I stand as your Rock, a fixed position which cannot be moved. Not only can you stand on that Rock – I will lead you there and steady you on it. All you have to do is to decide to follow Me and allow Me to lead you. To set aside your pride-filled plans which drag you away, and even in those I am pursuing you and drawing you back to the Rock again. Rest assured today – you and all who read this, that My goodness and mercy will follow you, not in a sense of being behind you, but in a sense that pursues you through every aspect of your lives.”

We continue to look at how our transformed lives are to play out in our everyday lives. Read Romans 13:8-10. I want to stand still on these verses because they are so central to the New Covenant and our lives as Jesus followers.

A key word in this section is “fulfilled”. In the sermon on the mount Jesus said “I have not come to abolish them (the law) but to fulfill them”. If we look at 13:10 today “love is the fulfillment of the law”. What does that say about Jesus? What does that say about the whole law as laid out in the Old Covenant?

God has used a protracted process from the beginning through the Old Covenant period, leading the people through legal imperatives to a “Person”. Many people live their lives trying to stay right or be right with God by keeping the law, as they interpret it. For example because of the emphasis in the OT on the Sabbath, there are many who feel they have satisfied God by regarding a Sunday as special. In the process they miss the intention of the Sabbath. The Sabbath, in many ways, is the personification of our relationship with God through Jesus. It is a reminder of the gospel.

I have often said that the gospel is not a message in words, but is a message focussed on a Person – Jesus. Jesus is our Gospel. Part of that is that Jesus is our Sabbath. It is in Him that we find true rest (Mat 11:28). In the same subtle way since Jesus came, every law flows from our hearts and transformed minds to reflect Jesus and His relationship with us. The concept of love (agape) is what moulds this in our minds to guide us in our interaction with others. In the same way we cannot do this unless Jesus is moulding us through His love first.

So, in a way the various written laws become promises. Hence “do not commit adultery” becomes “you shall not commit adultery” And as Jesus says, this all starts in the mind. So, are we each carrying this out perfectly? No of course not. There’s still the battle between our old selves and the new spiritual self going on. But the focus now is on growing in our understanding of the huge difference this makes in the way we relate to the law of the OT. Central to that is our growing intimate relationship with Jesus, which should constantly be being replenished.

So does that mean we should not regard Sunday as special? Of course not. Our focus though, should be different. Not on all the things we should not do, but rather on the opportunity of building our relationship with Jesus and carrying out the message about Him to as many people as possible. To rest and recreate and build friendships for the kingdom. Recognizing that Sunday is the Lord’s day and that every day is our Sabbath in Jesus.

And so the whole law can be summed up in the command to love God and love one another. That covers all the aspects of our lives as we interact with our Lord Jesus and as it flows to those around us.

This is an important issue, so why don’t you reflect on it in our comments section?

God bless you all till next week.