Have other spoke bad things over the good in your life? Do you seek the right things in life which are acceptable in the eyes of God?

I do not think one day passes by without someone reacting or saying something which has the potential of making me question whether what I thought was good, is really good? What good is there in your life that may be questioned at the best of times? And how do you respond?

“Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.” (‭‭Romans‬ ‭14:16-18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬)

Romans 14 shares with us the struggles that Christians had among the Jews and where the good thing of their faith and their salvation in Jesus was constantly questioned by the Jews. We are reminded that we are all at different phases and levels of our faith in Christ. This results in there being many things we look upon differently. There may be actions, beliefs and situations which pose no challenge to you, but to someone else they may have a great struggle in seeing it the way God may want them to see it. That gives us no reason to judge them or see ourselves as better than them. We should each walk our own journey with God and not keep our eyes on what others do and say but on Jesus. The Author and Finisher of our faith.

Now having said that, if we know that our brothers and sisters in Christ struggle with a certain belief, for example that only certain food may be eaten or that healing is only available to a selected few, we are not to judge them for it and continuously place them in situations where they struggle in this regard. Instead we are to love them with the love of Christ which He places in our hearts through His Holy Spirit and continue to believe what is right before Christ.

We are not to give up the good we have for the sake of someone else’s struggles, but we also do not need to pose our good as an obstacle for them in their faith.

Now what does this mean?

The good we have in Christ is the knowledge of our salvation, the liberty, grace and joy we have through the Holy Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit, the righteousness of God in Christ and the list goes on. We should guard our hearts and the good we have in and of Christ so that no one can speak evil thereof. This may mean that we should conduct ourselves in such a manner that our words and actions are aligned with our believe in Christ. We should ask the Holy Spirit to lead us in His way so that our conduct cannot cause others to speak evil of Jesus. It is inevitable that people may speak evil, whether or not you behave well, but as far as we are able to, we should walk in the unforced rhythms of grace in our lives and love others and not present obstacles that may hinder their faith.

This leads us to the bigger picture where we all fit in as believers -participants in the kingdom of God. We should not keep ourselves occupied with doctrines where everyone may see things in a different way, but we should occupy ourselves with Jesus Christ and enjoy the essentials of His kingdom.

Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

We should stand and operate in the righteousness we have in Jesus before God. We should hold onto and operate in the peace we have inside and we should strife to walk in peace with everyone around us. And lastly we can have joy because of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us. Our presence and ways should speak of peace and joy so that where we go, people will experience the love of Christ, even when not one word is spoken about Him.

If we follow these guidelines and with the help of the Holy Spirit inside us, we portray our servanthood to Christ and our deeds are acceptable to God. Our actions does not make us accepted in Christ, because that we already are, but if we stand in our rigteousness, walk in the peace and joy inside us and share it with others, our actions are acceptable to God. As we walk in this way we bring God’s love to man who will approve of us, even though that was not our motive.

I would like to encourage you: hold onto the good you have in Jesus Christ, rest at His feet and let the Holy Spirit guide you in everything you do so that you will operate in the essentials of God’s kingdom-righteousness, peace and joy, which is acceptable in God’s eyes.