November 16 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading:

Romans 14:1-13

¹Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
²For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.
³Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
⁴Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
⁵One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
⁶He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
⁷For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
⁸For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
⁹For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
¹⁰But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
¹¹For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
¹²So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
¹³Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.

Devotional:

We must accept ourselves. We must accept one another. Parents must accept their children. This word accept is much used today, but we ought not to think it is a new concept. The Apostle Paul says, 'Now accept the one who is weak in faith' (14:1 NASB); 'Accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God' (Romans 15:7 NASB). He is telling us to treat people, even weak people, with dignity, as having been made in the image of God and as having been accepted by God as they come to Him through His Son, 'accepted in the beloved' (Ephesians 1:6).

Are we distressed by the life style which our children have adopted? How careful we must be not to reject our children because of this. We must look behind the exterior and accept the person. Behavior and even opinions are not inseparable from the person himself. To accept a person is not necessarily to condone his behavior or speech. The Lord Jesus ate with sinners. The worst of men can be transformed by the power of God.

We must allow for differences of opinion on many matters within the church and within the home as well. Not one of us is completely sanctified! All our opinions have constantly to be held up to scrutiny in the light of God's truth. There are many areas in which the clear-cut rights and wrongs of Scripture are difficult for us to apply in the complex situations of life. Let us as parents not be so proud intellectually or spiritually that we regard our private applications of the principles of Scripture as absolute. Thus, 'Accept the one who is weak in the faith' sometimes means to accept our children—and their friends!

You have accepted us, dear Father; grant that we may accept one another!