Romans 14:15: 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.
Exercising Christian liberty is very much like walking a tightrope. As you walk the rope with balancing pole in hand, at one end of the pole is love for others and at the other is Christian liberty. When these are in balance, your walk is as it should be. Martin Luther had it right when he began his treatise “On the Freedom of a Christian Man” by saying, “A Christian man is a most free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian man is a most dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”1 We are all immensely free in Christ. Our only bondage is the bond of love to our fellow believers. 1
Application
- Do you walk in love or do you just walk wherever you want to, without much concern of others?
- How do you know if you’re living a balanced life of love and liberty? What gets more out of balance in your life: the love or the liberty? What is the best way for you to get things back in balance?
Prayer
Lord, help me not to be a lopsided Christian.
1. Hughes, R. K. (1991). Romans: righteousness from heaven. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.