Preferences

Preferences. We all have them. Yesterday I wrote about some of the things I like and some of the things I don’t particularly care for. Most of those things are a matter of personal preference. Our personal preferences don’t all agree. And they don’t need to. Because that’s the nature of personal preferences. They are personal.

After I had written that post, I picked up a devotional book I had recently purchased and turned to the first chapter. There I was confronted with that very thing - personal preferences.

The scripture verse for that devotional was Romans 14:13 - Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother [or sister].

The devotion pointed out that these words of the Apostle Paul are warning us not to judge other Christian’s preferences.

Our preferences might have to do with some of the things I wrote about yesterday. Or about which Bible translation we prefer. Or what we watch - or don’t watch - on television. About whether your kids attend public or private or home school. About what kind of worship music you like.

“When we feel judgmental toward another believer, when we dislike their choices or convince ourselves they are somehow less spiritual than us because of them, isn’t a preference usually to blame? By contrast, God’s Word urges us to extend grace, not judgment, toward one another.” (From “Living Out the One Another’s of Scripture”**)

This may be one of the more difficult of the “one another commands”. We like our preferences. We want to hold on to them. We dig our heels in over the things we like.

We need to get to the place where we can distinguish between a deeply held conviction and a personal preference. 

I have some deeply held convictions about the Scripture. About who Jesus is. About worship - what it is and what it isn’t. 

But I also have some personal preferences. And many of these differ from those of my friends.

We won’t part company over preferences. We might have to part company over a conviction.

It’s important that we know the difference. 

Something to think about.

**Living Out the One Anothers of Scripture, Revive Our Hearts Ministries, Niles, MI