Romans 14:19 provides a worthy goal for the day.
So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
“So then.” The lives of disciples are to be shaped by the teachings of Jesus. Monday must not be divorced from the wisdom and warnings and reminders of Sunday. If Sunday is the Lord’s day, Monday ought to be treated as “so then” day.
“Let us pursue.” These blessings aren’t going to fall into our laps. We won’t attain them by accident. If I’m going to be a Romans 14:19 sort of person today, it will require deliberate, focused effort on my part. The course of my race stretches out before me. No one can run it for me. I must apply. I must deny. I must pursue.
“What makes for peace.” As a Christian, the will of my King is clear: “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Rom 12:18). Sons and daughters of God are to be peacemakers (Matt 5:9), not peace-disrupters or harmony-destroyers. Which means, we must lock our focus in on and get busy in the work of…
“Mutual upbuilding.” In face-to-face conversations, social media interactions, marriage, expressions of concern, disagreements, and more, if possible, so far as it depends on us, our calling is to live peaceably with all. This demands humble forethought and honest self-evaluation:
- Will I be Christlike in this interaction?
- Will this do anything more than simply throw fuel on a quarrel over opinions?
- Why am I making this online post or comment?
- Will what I’m about to say make for peace?
- Am I elevating my preferences to a point that could make a brother or sister stumble?
- What difference can I make in the upbuilding of this person who is weak or hurting?
This world needs no help filling today with sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, and envy. As disciples of Jesus, we’re to be different. Salt in a culture of decay. Light in the midst of darkness. We’re being transformed by the renewal of our minds, presented to our Lord as living sacrifices, all of which leads to this powerful summary:
None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. (Rom 14:7-9)
We are the Lord’s. So then…
Let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.