14:6
Paul shows respect for both “camps”, the one who denies himself certain foods, the one who observes certain days, and the one who does neither. It is our attitude to the Lord that counts. So if you observe a special day for the Lord that is fine and good, but if you do it in order to prove that you are “holier” than someone else then you are mistaken and there is a heart attitude that needs to change. Likewise with food. Likewise, if you aren’t grateful to God for any days, or if we don’t eat with an attitude of thanks to God then we are also in trouble. So we should look first at ourselves, are we living for the Lord or for ourselves? We should not focus on judging others, rather our starting point should be that the other person is living for the Lord in their own way.
14:7-9
The human way of looking at ourselves, and each other, is to consider ourselves and each other as autonomous. This is increasingly so in our society, but the truth is that I belong to God, and everyone else does as well. If I judge someone because of their eating rules I am applying my criteria to them, but that is not the criteria that the Lord applies. Christ died and rose again so that he might be the Lord of the living and the dead. We are all answerable to Christ.
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