Shift Your Focus – The Presidential Prayer Team

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. – Romans 14:1

Doesn’t it seem as though people increasingly like to argue over little issues? It is nearly impossible to scroll through social media or news sites and not stumble across an argument between others about something. Is this how people, particularly those who follow Christ, are supposed to behave?

Paul offered words of wisdom to believers in his letter to the Roman church. In those days, the church was having some difficulties between the attitudes of the mature believers toward the newer believers in Christ, which naturally led to disharmony. Paul challenged those who were stronger in the faith to simply let the little things go in order to welcome the weaker ones with God’s love and grace. This did not mean that they should compromise their important, non-negotiable beliefs, such as the gospel of salvation. He was speaking more of the small things that even Christians today sometimes struggle to agree upon.

The Christians of the early church needed to put aside their own minor agendas for the sake of their relationships with each other and the church. Arguing and debating did nothing to build up the church, but instead just created fractures within it. Paul knew that this was not the design that God had for the church, and called the believers to focus instead on the bigger picture – Jesus.

Is God calling you to put aside any arguments or disagreements today? Ask God to guide you in how to show His love to those around you, especially fellow believers. Pray Romans 14:1 over the nation, and that the governing officials of the U.S. overcome their disagreeements and fulfill God’s ultimate plan.

Today’s Verse: Romans 14:1

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: 1 John 4:7-21

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. ¹⁰In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

¹³By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. ¹⁷By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. ¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. ¹⁹We love because he first loved us. ²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. ²¹And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.