How Much do You Love

As Americans we are independent thinkers and actors. We choose our own destiny. We make our own rules. We ignore what others think about our choices and beliefs. What if I told you this was not a Christian manner of thinking? What if I told you being independent was wrong?

If we believe that our salvation will be in isolation from others, we are mistaken. In today’s reading from Romans, we are reminded by Saint Paul that our salvation requires us not only to consider the feelings of others, but to love them enough to change.

Brethren, to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written. “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.” So each of us shall give account of himself to God. Then let us no more pass judgment on one another, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for any one who thinks it unclean. If your brother is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit; he who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

Romans 14.9-18

First, a reminder about who Saint Paul is referencing in this passage. He is not speaking about how we interact with those outside the Church. Saint Paul understood that we interact differently with those outside the Church. In this passage, he is speaking about those inside the Church.

I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”

1^st Corinthians 5.9-13

Second, if we are supposed to consider the feelings of those inside the Church, those we call brothers and sisters, that does not mean we should sin ‘just’ to make them happy. This is also clear from what he writes to the Corinthians.

The context of today’s reading from Romans is how we interact with those brothers and sisters who are weak in faith. That means not everyone in the Church is ‘at the same level’ of faith. Not everyone will be in Church every day. Not everyone will fast, let alone fast strictly.

Saint Paul says, don’t judge them for their weakness, and don’t scandalize them with your strength. As members of Christ and His Church, we are ‘all in this together’ and should act as such. We are soldiers for Christ. Soldiers don’t leave other soldiers behind to save themselves.

How we interact with our brothers and sisters in the Church indicates how much we love them. If we love them enough to change our behavior, to avoid a scandal, then we are united to them and to Christ. If we ignore them in our choices, we are lone actors without love.

Worse than ignoring them, is when we judge them for their weakness of faith. EVERY time we look at those who do not fast ‘like they should’ with judgment, WE are the ones without love. We are the ones who will be judged by God, not those who choose not to fast.

Being weak in faith isn’t a sin. Being weak in faith requires having those around us who are willing to stand with us, until we become stronger. Being strong in faith isn’t a guarantee of salvation. Being stronger merely means we are expected to help those who are weak.

How do we help those who are weak in faith? For starters, we don’t judge their weakness. We stand with them and help them grow. This is what Saint Paul was doing with this passage. He is helping the weak ones grow stronger and commanding the strong to bear with the weak.

How much do you love the weak? The answer is revealed in how much you bear with them in their weakness. If you leave them behind or judge them, you don’t love them at all.