“For if your brother or sister is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy, by what you eat, someone for whom Christ died.” (v. 15)

Here, in Romans 14, you likely find some confidence…and a steep calling.

When it comes to “disputed matters”—what you eat and what you drink and how you observe the rhythms of Kingdom life—you are free. You have the Holy Spirit, you have the Word of God, and you have the high privilege of discerning God’s convictions for your life. Eating and drinking can’t condemn you. The things themselves are not “unclean,” and you are free to hold them, albeit within the boundaries the Bible specifically gives you (for instance, against drunkenness).

You are free.

Yet you are also bound.

The command to love your brothers and sisters in Christ compels you to consider them as you consider partaking. How are you loving the brother who struggles with addiction, with a sin-scarred past, or with a deep moral conviction if you continually imbibe and invite in his company? Are you thinking of your sister’s frailty at least as much as you are thinking about your own freedom? Even as the Gospel frees you from ceremonial laws, it binds you to the law of love.

So enjoy the good gift of freedom in Christ. And love one another. If those are in conflict in your life, reread this chapter—and consider which the Word would rather you give up.

— Tyler