Romans 14:1-12

New International Version (NIV)
The Weak and the Strong

14 Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister[a]? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will acknowledge God.’”[b]

12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

Isaiah 2:4

New International Version (NIV)

4 He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.

Three perspectives from Paul that can help unite what is divided:
1 Remember who is (and who isn’t) the Judge.
2. Imagine how the person on the wrong side of the issue might be there for the best possible reason: to honor God. have
3. We don’t have to give up our convictions to stay together.

Debatable issues threaten to tear us apart because:
1. They involve our sense of loyalty to God.
2. They involve our sense of loyalty to the Bible.
3. They involve our sense of loyalty to our cherished tradition.
4. They involve our sense of loyalty to family.

How can I start working through a debatable issue?
1 Get emotional space by giving your unresolved issue to God
2. Listen to people.
3. Give it to God again, and again, and again.