Eating and drinking
Day 575, Monday, Mar. 9
Romans 14:12-23
For modern Christians, questions about what a person should or should not eat usually stem from our beliefs about what is healthy or unhealthy, though some vegetarians or vegans will cite ethical concerns for their food choices.
We only need to look to our Jewish and Muslim neighbors, though, to realize that diet can hold deep religious significance for some. Eating prohibited food can be more than an unhealthy indulgence; it can show disrespect for God and his law.
Questions like this were problems in the New Testament church. Much of the church was made up of lifelong Jews who couldn’t eat forbidden foods without believing they were failing God; and much of the church was made up of gentile converts who found dietary restrictions to be foreign and kind of silly. This went a lot deeper than whether or not you like cheese on your hamburger.
Paul is urging people to have empathy for members of the community who have come to different answers to the food question. “Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put a stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.”
Other things are more important. Paul says, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.”

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Monday meditation

Psalms 91:1-8
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

Prayer focus
Lord, make us righteous, not so we can judge, but so we can live in peace, joy and love.