Each To His Own

Romans 14: 5-6

One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike.  Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.  Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord.  Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

(I only put a few verses here, so I would suggest going to Romans and reading the whole chapter)

There’s a lot of division in the church, isn’t there?  So many different denominations with so many different beliefs.  There is only one Bible, yet each denomination has its own view of what’s important and/or pertinent.  According to human logic, only one of them can be correct.  Yet, that’s not how it works.  For so long as we are fully convinced that what we are doing and how we are doing is good and right by the Lord, then that is what we should do.  It doesn’t matter if a fellow Christian does it differently.  As long as that person is fully convinced in their own mind, their way is the correct one.  For them.  And what’s right for one person is wrong for another.

Now I’m not saying that anyone who is fully convinced about something is right.  There are a lot of people out there fully convinced about stuff and are completely wrong about it.  But so long as you take the Bible, read it, and base your beliefs solidly in the Word, then you’re fine.  Because the Bible is God’s word for us.  We disobey that, obviously we’re wrong.  So if we base a belief off of something in the Bible, it should be correct. 

I say “should” because it is possible, as it is with anything, to take the Bible out of context.  It is something that is done far too often.  It is a very large book, and it covers a very long period of time.  No one part of the Bible can stand alone.  Each book, each verse, is affected by the others.  They all combine to create God’s plan for us.  So to be able to fully grasp what He wants us to learn, we have to take everything we read in context.  When the rules are set down in the Old Testament, we have to be aware of how those are affected in the New.  When we see a verse that seems contrary to something, we have to read the surrounding verses in order to understand. 

That said, let me reiterate.  As long as you are fully convinced in what you believe, based firmly on the Bible as a whole, then don’t worry about what other people are doing.  Whether they are right or wrong is no concern of yours (of course there are exceptions, but I’m not going to get into those).

Dear Lord, convict us.  Show us the truth of Your word.  Let us be able to distinguish between what is Your will and what is the way of the world. 

Amen.