Tuesday after the Fourth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on July 4, 2023 by under
Scripture: Romans 14:7-17 (NKJV)
14:7 For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written:
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”
12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.
14 I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15 Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Devotion
In this chapter of his Epistle to the Church at Rome, St. Paul tells us how much the Lord Jesus loves His creation. What does He do for His creation? “Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.” In other words, our Lord Jesus suffered, died, and rose again so that He might be the Lord of all.
Between His death and resurrection our Lord descended into Hell. He allowed Himself to be killed by His enemies, and when He went down to Hell He showed His victory and the condemnation of sin, for He was killed as an innocent man. Now those who were held in bondage to the devil have been freed from bondage. By this He has become the Lord of those who were held in bondage by Satan. Through faith in the work of the Christ, mankind can lay claim to the gift that the Lord Jesus won for us.
Sadly, many people reject the Lord Jesus and return to the former bondage under the devil into which they were born. They refuse to be free from their chains. This is why St. Paul exhorts us to use every means at our disposal to call the erring brothers out of their bondage to have as their Lord the One who died for all mankind and won our freedom.
Prayer: Grant, O Lord, we beseech Thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by Thy governance, that Thy Church may joyfully serve Thee in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
