Several weeks ago, we looked at the first part of chapter 14 of Romans and confirmed our calling to "love the sinner" and to recognize that judging sin in others is the responsibility of God alone.

However, that is not to say that each one of us independently pursues our Christian Walk, answering only to God. We should not expect others to answer to us, but God does hold us accountable for how we support and encourage our brothers and sisters. In the first part of the chapter, Paul referenced believers who were afraid that eating any meat might cause them to eat meat sacrificed at a pagan temple and unwittingly commit a sin of idolatry. While Paul rejected this belief in the first part of the chapter, he cautions in the last half of the chapter that our actions, while otherwise innocent, might weaken the faith of other believers. Paul urged his readers to forego their right to eat meat before they permit their choices to push another believer away.

Modern American society obsesses over the rights of the individual, urging other nations to gain success and prosperity with an elixir of individual rights, democratic elections, and free market capitalism. While that combination has permitted and nourished the growth of Christianity, those political values are not the same as Christianity, especially when we consider the rights that we should allow our brothers and sisters to have over us. To be an obedient follower of the Way, those of Paul's time had the right to eat meat, but not if exercising that right hurts the faith of others. Today, there are some denominations that prohibit alcoholic beverages and some that do not, but those theological considerations and debates are secondary to the potential detrimental effect that any Christian's drinking might have on specific others. There are other such controversies that foment much discussion, but this principle applies to more than just large disputes. Consider that a criticism we spoke in love might be perceived by others as gossip, or that our expression of gratitude might be heard as greed. There are no reliable guidelines to how we should limit our rights, save the rule of Love in our hearts.

Paul's directive goes further, in that it compels us to refrain from questionable actions before those observing us stumble in their faith. To illustrate how difficult this is, I want to use an example of current policy regarding sexual harassment in most businesses. In simple terms, the typical policy encourages those who feel uncomfortable with another person's actions to speak up and object, and once they have done so, whatever that action, the policy protects that person. For example, maybe I have a habit of touching another's arm when I am talking to them, and most people would not find that offensive. If one of my co-workers does not like that action and tells me so, I am obligated by policy not to touch that person's arm again. (Obviously, there are some actions widely accepted as harassment that policies prohibit without an objection!) In this modern business example, I am free to touch another's arm until someone expresses that they feel uncomfortable with my action.

Not so for Christians—by the time we have been told that an action of ours caused another believer to doubt and, as Paul put it, to stumble, it is too late. Love demands of us that we do not wait for an objection, but that we weigh our every action and statement against how that might work against God's leading in another believer. This requires us to consider particularly less mature believers or believers from different backgrounds. Just recently, in the U.S. Presidential campaign of Barak Obama, sermons from Rev. Jeremiah Wright expressing the pain of past discrimination were received by the wider population as messages of hate. Rev. Wright needed to have considered Paul's admonishment and realized that ideas his Chicago congregation understood would instead attack the principles held by a much larger, more varied audience than he anticipated.

While most of us do not have an audience of thousands of news reporters, we each face similar potentials for our actions to be perceived in ways that would cause others to doubt our faith or doubt their own beliefs. Most of these people will never question or challenge us! Some will quietly go away, hurt or confused by what they saw in us. Some will take our actions as license to indulge in behaviors that take them away from God's leading. Some will simply let their faith go cold.

Yes, Jesus died so that we might be free. Because freedom came at such an immense cost, we must never allow our freedom to cause another's freedom to slip away.