What Is The Most Loving Thing?
BRD REFLECTIONS
(Tiffany Teo, Chairperson, Youth Ministry)
READ:
Romans 14 (NIV)
OBSERVE:
In this chapter, Paul addresses the readers, Jews and Gentiles, who were comparing one another’s level of faith and culture. Food restrictions or the lack thereof was a big thing for each group, and that led to the assumption of how faithful one person is in the Christian faith. But Paul points out that one shouldn’t be so focused on passing such judgement on others, but should instead turn the attention to our individual actions – are they done out of love for our fellow brothers and sisters?
If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. (Romans 14:15-16)
APPLY:
It appears that the message Paul has here in this chapter is timeless, and not just for the original Jew and Gentile readers. It is always so easy to judge others by our own standards of what faith looks like, and forget to look at ourselves and the intricate details of our lives. Everything we do, can be loving or stumbling towards others.
A missionary once taught me to always ask myself ‘What is the most loving thing?’ for everything that I do that affects others. From the simplest things like being punctual, to making an effort to talk to people we meet in the field even though I’d prefer to keep to familiar faces. What is the most loving thing for others? I’ve found that this question of what is the most loving thing has been even more helpful than the famous one of ‘What would Jesus do?’ I continue to ask myself this question today, both in my everyday life and on mission trips. Do the things I do stumble others, both the young(er) and the old(er)? It’s easy to assume that what I (and my generation) think is ok, is ok for everyone else too. But perhaps it is more complex than that, and requires a daily commitment to placing myself in another’s shoes to ask, ‘What is the most loving thing for them?’.
DO:
I pray that even as I go through life, through the lulls and the busyness, that I will not forget to act in love. May the question, ‘What is the most loving thing?’, continue to help me see what Christ desires me to do, so that I may help to shine a bit more of His light into this world.
PRAY:
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for showing us what love is. I pray that I continue to open my eyes and heart to what being the most loving looks like. Grant me the strength and courage to choose love each time, even if it may be difficult, and also grant me forgiveness when I do fail. Through it all, may all the glory be given to You and You alone. In Your name I pray, Amen.
