#soap # Romans 14 ## Title: Walk With Others ## Scripture: (Romans 14:1-2) “Now receive the one who is weak in the faith, and do not have disputes over differing opinions. One person believes in eating everything, but the weak person eats only vegetables.” (NET) ## Observation: In this passage, Paul is talking about the subjective parts of God's Word. There are clear essentials that we all consider non-negotiables of our faith. One of these would be that we believe Jesus is the Son of God. Without this, there is no Christianity. In these essentials, there is no room for subjective interpretation. However, Paul is not talking about the objective true beliefs that we all rally around. He is speaking about the subjective truths where Christians can differ and still be on the "same team." For example, Paul talks about eating food that is offered to idols. For some, they did not see this as a problem because they did not see the idols as real. Therefore, the prayers prayed over them were empty and did not matter. However, other people may have felt a guilty conscience due to the issue of not wanting anything that took away from the sovereignty of God. For many, this issue could be argued either way. This is what Paul is talking about. Where there is vague subjectivity, walk with people and do not allow ourselves to be divided. This is a great lesson for us today. Is it possible we are aligning ourselves with people who do not share our essential beliefs? Are we creating barriers for people over subjective beliefs? This is something to think over and make some decisions about. ## Application: Take some time and think about what you consider to be non-negotiable beliefs. ## Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, for giving us the chance to walk with others who are not exactly like us.