“The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” – Romans 14:22-23 (ESV )
God knows our level of faith and He honors our sincere effort to live by it. Some have grown in faith to recognize that God loves and accepts us based solely on our faith not works. Others are still learning but remain committed by their conscience to observe rules of right and wrong. “Do this…don’t do that” becomes means of working to maintain God’s approval. However it is the believers with strongest faith who have an obligation to respect those who are burdened by these rules. The strongest Christian can bring harm to himself in the area of Christian liberty by denouncing or belittling the freedom God has given him and use it as a license to sin, or by carelessly flaunting his liberty without regard for how that might affect others. The Apostle Paul urges the strong believer to understand his liberty, enjoy it, and keep it between God and himself. The strong believer maintains a healthy conscience because he does not give a weak believer a cause to stumble or lead them to violate their conscience. When a believer violates his conscience, he sins. Acting contrary to our conscience is to act without faith.
196
Esengo Mingi 