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Morning Devotion for the Season of Easter

May 12, 2023

Invitatory

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Reading - Romans 14:13-19

Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling-block or hindrance in the way of another. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. If your brother or sister 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. The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual edification.

Meditation - Winnie Smith

“Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another.” That line, alone, could replace hundreds of others in Scripture that people have argued over for centuries. It is simple, to the point, and incredibly difficult to follow.

In this passage from Romans, Paul writes to a divided group: they are Jewish and non-Jewish believers in Christ in the first century, when Christianity was just beginning. All the talk of food is likely in reference to the Mosaic law still being practiced by many early believers (laid out in much of the Old Testament). These codes included restrictions on types of food that could be eaten and on methods of preparation. Paul is, more or less, telling the faithful of the church in Rome not to focus so much on the rules and regulations. “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Paul implies that to focus on and judge what others eat and drink is to misinterpret the purpose of these laws. They are not explicitly about food and drink, but about “righteousness and peace and joy.”

In fact, Paul pushes further. “Resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another.” Easier said than done, no doubt. But the spirit of this command is worth striving for: we must do everything we can to support one another in our journeys toward belief and in our relationships with God. We are not each other’s judges, rather we are called to look at one another as people loved by Christ. That is how we understand God to see us, and it is how we ought to see one another. And if we truly recognize and live into the notion that the kingdom of God is, in fact, about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, then we cannot help but live more generously and less judgmentally. If we all acknowledge the peace and joy offered by our very lives and through the Cross of Christ, then our behavior will change. Our work is to put aside the very human tendency to create and legislate rules to regulate one another, and instead support one another however we can as we all strive for a closer relationship to God.

Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy Name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those

who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen.