Romans 14:5 "One indeed judges or, considers to be above another day, but another judges every day to be alike; be letting each be fully convinced in his own mind."

I once met a man who told me that because of some things happening in his life, he decided to read the Bible. He was a member of a Christian church at the time, but had always been content to just let the minister tell him what was in the Bible, instead of studying it for himself. While he was reading the Bible he came across something that didn't seem to agree with the practices of his church. He asked his minister about it and his minister told him, “Oh, that doesn't matter anymore.” He asked the minister to show him where the Bible said it didn't matter anymore and the minister wasn't able to do that. As a result, he continued to study and at the same time look for a church that believed what he was coming to believe himself. He eventually found one and is now a member of that church. This man became fully convinced in what he believes. Instead of letting a minister tell him what to believe, he carefully studied and acted on what he was fully convinced is correct. He's following Romans 14:6 which tells us that what we do, should be done to honor the Lord. He changed churches to honor the Lord by doing what he became convinced was right.

It is up to each individual person to carefully and PRAYERFULLY study for themselves. Each person is responsible for their own beliefs and actions. Whatever each person believes or does they must be fully convinced about the matter. We're are not to let our own desires be what convinces us. Our convictions are to be based on what will honor the Lord and what He desires.  When we have an understanding of what the Lord desires of us, and we are fully convinced in our beliefs, we then are able to help another person become strong in their faith.

This brings us to Romans 15:1 and 2, “ So those of us who have a strong faith must be patient with the weaknesses of those whose faith is not so strong. We must not think only of ourselves. We should all be concerned about our neighbor and the good things that will build his faith.”

Each person is responsible for knowing what is in the Bible and asking the Lord to show them what is true.  We can't expect to get by on the coat tails of our minister or our church.  We have to know for ourselves what we believe and why.  Then we will be able to present our beliefs to others.  We only present our beliefs, we don't push them on other people.   It is God's job to do the convicting of the heart. Our job to encourage each other in a relationship with Jesus, and to honor Him with our lives.