Win/Win

Meditations on Romans 

September 23, 2021

Win/Win

Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

Romans 14:10b

Read Romans 14:7-12

In yesterday’s meditation, the differences between the approaches the Christians in Rome had to issues of diet and holy days was the subject of Paul’s teaching. I don’t want to minimize how significant these issues were to the congregation in Rome. For many, they ran to the very heart of their faith in God. A Christian who had come out of a pagan cult would genuinely be horrified at another member of their church buying meat that had been offered as a sacrifice to idols. For Paul, meat was meat, and he had no problems with someone sacrificing it to a false god. But if he wasn’t careful with his freedom, he could cause conflict within the congregation.

I believe if Paul were living today, he might be drawn to Stephen Covey and his classic work, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, to help the church grasp his point about unity. Covey’s habits four and five are having a win/win attitude and then listening to understand. At the heart of these two habits are beliefs that there is enough for all to fully participate and share, and that we can show love and respect for others by truly listening to them.

My Takeaway: Having a win/win attitude and listening to understand is much easier to say than to implement in our lives. In verse eight, Paul lays a foundation to help us make these habits realities in our lives: “So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” Yes, we belong to the Lord, and we get to him by grace through faith. Every person in a right-standing relationship with God through faith in Jesus stands equally, one with another, before God. When I hold fast to this truth, I can then move toward the reality of being in equality in my relationships today.  

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2021 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.