7. It’s clear that we don’t live to honor ourselves, and we don’t die to honor ourselves.
8. If we live, we honor the Lord, and if we die, we honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
9. For this reason Christ died and came back to life so that he would be the Lord of both the living and the dead.
10. Why do you criticize or despise other Christians? Everyone will stand in front of God to be judged.
11. Scripture says,“As certainly as I live, says the Lord,everyone will worship me,and everyone will praise God.”
12. All of us will have to give an account of ourselves to God.
13. So let’s stop criticizing each other. Instead, you should decide never to do anything that would make other Christians have doubts or lose their faith.
14. The Lord Jesus has given me the knowledge and conviction that no food is unacceptable in and of itself. But it is unacceptable to a person who thinks it is.
15. So if what you eat hurts another Christian, you are no longer living by love. Don’t destroy anyone by what you eat. Christ died for that person.
16. Don’t allow anyone to say that what you consider good is evil.
17. God’s kingdom does not consist of what a person eats or drinks. Rather, God’s kingdom consists of God’s approval and peace, as well as the joy that the Holy Spirit gives.
18. The person who serves Christ with this in mind is pleasing to God and respected by people.
19. So let’s pursue those things which bring peace and which are good for each other.