There is a right answer: “Some think it is all right to eat anything, while those whose faith is weak will eat only vegetables” (v 1). Clearly the strong in the faith “eat anything” and the weak in the faith don’t. Paul makes it clear that there is a right answer to whether a Christian can only eat certain foods or worship on certain days, dress a certain way …

Yesterday we read about Paul acting as spiritual father to the church in Rome: “Stop fighting!” In today’s passage he has not left the issue, but the focus has shifted slightly. He is most concerned with our responsibility to each other. In fact in this section the onus is on the “strong” in the faith to not “hurt” the “weak”.

Paul is speaking into the life of the church at Rome as a spiritual father. Oh that we each would set a life course that would lead to us being spiritual fathers and mothers in our church families! That we would aspire to become men and women who speak out of the heart of God, and love deeply the body of Christ.

Paul ends his plea for unity by bringing the people in the church at Rome to the Father. Paul quite naturally and easily slips into prayer. He could have ended the section with an appeal to his authority, but instead he simply and beautifully invites us into the presence of God, as if to say, “Okay, we’ve talked about important things.

Joel’s message opens with the pressing circumstance of a plague of locusts. It’s an outbreak of apocalyptic and catastrophic proportions. Repeated swarms (v 4) are invading and advancing across the land (vv 4-9). They’re devouring every blade of grass, every stalk of wheat, and every leaf on every tree (vv 7-12).

Everyone’s after therapy; here’s a therapeutic psalm with something for most.

Do you feel disheartened? The sickness most of us battle against is not physical but psychological.

Do you have anything really precious that you take special care of? It could be a valuable sports card, a favourite piece of art, or a limited edition special handmade artifact. Maybe it goes in a special box, or plastic protection every time after you use it.