Devotion 9.18.23

Romans 14

19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

I had the privilege to go into Mexico in the 1990s for mission trips with Project Can-Do. It was called a "servant event." When we were there, we were to respect the customs of the Mexican Lutheran church, Lutheran Christians in Mexico in general. Women wore dresses daily and were not to be touched. That was difficult because we were building a youth facility. In the US, we would have worn shorts or jeans, not in Mexico. You would also hug youth as a manner of greeting or if they did good work. Not in Mexico. 

Christians in Mexico don't drink either. After a long, hard day's work, there was a corner store with really cold beer (by feel, not taste), but we didn't in spite of knowing we would have cold beer after a workday back home in a heartbeat. We respected our brothers in the faith and their customs because to not to made a statement about our faith. 

What they believed had little to do with scripture. We are neither commanded nor forbidden to observe what they observed, but Paul notes we are not to argue over such either. "All food is clean, but don't do it if it causes someone to stumble." In verse 21, he notes not to do it if it causes someone to fall. I look at this caution in this way: "Don't drink in front of a man or woman in recovery if they could fall by being tempted by our drinking in front of them OR if they believe such behavior is not acceptable and could fall away from their newly born faith." 

We learned much about faith from our brothers in Mexico. In short, it's about Christ. We want people to be in faith in Christ. That's what's most important. We don't want to cause someone to stumble. That's important.