Romans 14:17-19
"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 approved by men. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification."
Paul said that "the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking." In other words, the Kingdom of God is not about matters of the outside. People are often weak and like to judge others from the outside, even when it comes to spiritual matters. We may debate about things of the outside, like how the early church debated about what they ought to eat and drink. They debated issues surrounding food such as whether food sacrificed to the idols can be eaten, whether eating it would secularize us, and how much freedom we have in the truth. That's why in Romans 14:1-6 Paul wrote a lot about food. Perhaps we no longer discuss so much about food, but we can still debate many other things. For example, we debate about which style of worship pleases God the most. Actually, all styles and traditions of worship are beautiful, and like John 4:24 says, "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." We, however, often pay more attention to things of the outside, and when we see someone doing something different, we wonder why. As soon as focus on the differences, we will start to categorize people as them and us. Just like back in the church of Corinthians, where some people followed Paul, some followed Apollo and others followed Cephas. Everyone thinks they are right and defends themselves, causing God's Kingdom to become divided.
Kingdom of God is based on righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit; the righteousness is of God, not people. We need to turn back to God, ask the precious blood of Jesus to cover us so that we can live in the righteousness of God every day. Kingdom of God also values peace, people Jesus came to tear down all the walls between people and to restore the relationship between people. We need to ask the Lord to fill our life with His love every day because His love can melt all icebergs and soften all hardened hearts. His love can turn back our hearts towards God, and also turn back to love our family, our brothers and sisters, and everyone in the world. Kingdom of God also values joy in the Holy Spirit, because when the Holy Spirit moves in our heart, the power that releases us will bring forth joy.
Our faith is joyful, like someone once said that the heaven wouldn't mean anything if it wasn't full of joy. Indeed, we can have joy of satisfaction before God and in the Holy Spirit. Are you filled with joy from God in the Holy Spirit? Are you enjoying the righteousness and peace in the Kingdom of God?
Pray with Pastor Tong Liu
Lord, may the righteousness, peace and job of your kingdom will our hearts. May the Lord help us not to keep on looking at the outside, but to focus on the Lord yourself. Let us obey your will and act according to your word in our daily life. May you receive all the glory! I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!
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