08 May 2022
Two-Minute Features | 15 May 2022 | 01 May 2022

Passing Judgment on Others' Freedom, Part 2 (TMF:1850)

Friday, May 13, 2022
Peace to Live By: Passing Judgment on Others' Freedom, Part 2 (TMF:1850) - Daniel Litton
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       At the moment we pass judgment on people, we what? Well, we show that we care only about the negative. In other words, the reality is, is that we don’t have to become offended by what others are doing or not doing if we don’t want to. You ever discern that? It’s true. We can actually pass on becoming offended in regard to something. If we pass judgment on someone, we risk the chance of possibly damaging that relationship, or even losing it, over a petty thing. We don’t want to be a Petty Roosevelt. No, on the contrary, if we wish to be truly successful and acting in love toward others, we need to choose not to pass judgment, not to be offended in whatever it is. We need to care more about what God thinks, and let God take control of whether the person is right or wrong. God can take care of that; that’s not our job here. Rather, we become a peacemaker, as Jesus discussed, and thereby administer peace to the weak instead of judgment.

Passing Judgment on Others' Freedom, Part 1 (TMF:1849)

Thursday, May 12, 2022
Peace to Live By: Passing Judgment on Others' Freedom, Part 1 (TMF:1849) - Daniel Litton
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       I think a common one is a rule-oriented brother or sister who tries to call out a freer brother or sister for doing sin, when what the stronger person is doing actually isn’t sin. The weaker is judging the stronger, and may even try to aggressively come against the stronger person. I know this line of thinking first-hand, because, I must confess, back at the time I was in my beginning years of being a Christian, I got pretty systematic. And I would love to judge the stronger brothers and sisters as actually sinning, when in reality, I was just jealous of their freedom. Deep down, I wanted what they had, but I was too weak to allow myself to progress, to move up the freedom ladder. Paul said, “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls.” One way to look at this verse is to say that God accepts people from all levels of Christians liberty, from the most free to the least free. He can work with them all.

The Strong vs. the Weak, Part 2 (TMF:1848)

Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Peace to Live By: The Strong vs. the Weak, Part 2 (TMF:1848) - Daniel Litton
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       Verse 3: “Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” Notice, then, that it’s not only the strong Christians who can pass judgment upon the weaker Christians, but actually the weaker Christians can try to judge the stronger Christians. As a matter of fact, I would say in modern-day America that we see the weaker judging the stronger much more frequently within the body of Christ. Probably all kinds of examples are flying into your head by now. I think a common one is a rule-oriented brother or sister who tries to call out a freer brother or sister for doing sin, when what the stronger person is doing actually isn’t sin. The weaker is judging the stronger, and may even try to aggressively come against the stronger person.

The Strong vs. the Weak, Part 1 (TMF:1847)

Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Peace to Live By: The Strong vs. the Weak, Part 1 (TMF:1847) - Daniel Litton
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       The first example is provided to us here, when it says, “One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.” Now, Paul probably had in mind Jewish folks who had come Christ but were still trying to be Kosher. They were still carrying over Jewish ceremonial customs to their newfound faith in Christ. Obviously, the stronger believer knows that he or she is allowed to eat whatever because we no longer are required to keep the ceremonial parts of the Jewish Law. God doesn’t require that. But, to carry this over for more modern day application, we might know a believer or two who is a vegan as they believe it’s morally wrong for them personally to eat any kind of animals, or certain types of animals. I have actually known a couple of people who were like this. And while I found their restrictions humorous, I never tried to get them to go against those convictions because that’s not what we’re supposed to do. That’s not what we’re here for. Life is more than what we eat and what we don’t eat.

Welcoming Weaker Brothers & Sisters (TMF:1846)

Monday, May 09, 2022
Peace to Live By: Welcoming Weaker Brothers & Sisters (TMF:1846) - Daniel Litton
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       We are to welcome weaker believers but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions, as Paul stated. That means we aren’t to accept weaker brothers and sisters into our friendship with the purpose of trying to deliberately convert them to how we see things—to our level of freedom in Christ. In reality, only God can make people freer. If we are trying to push our view on someone, then we are truly selfish indeed. We are only thinking about ourselves, and not what the other person needs at the time. This doesn’t mean that when opportunity arises, we don’t discuss matters of Christian liberty. We still discuss them, and we still have hope that weaker Christians will become stronger. And even if the weaker folks don’t accept our views—even if they don’t rise to a new level of Christian liberty—that doesn’t either mean we reject those people and say, “Ah, they’re just too weak and rule oriented. We don’t want to be around them.” The first example is provided to us here, when it says, “One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.”