While working today, I was listening to a couple sermons (podcasts) by the pastor of a large church on the east coast. I have to give him credit, he wasn’t afraid to tackle some of the tough issues.

Alcohol. Masturbation. Talking about them in church is sure to offend someone. It’s a no win situation.

Regardless of your position on those issues, you very likely have friends who disagree with you. You’ve developed convictions. So have they. Theirs are different than yours. What do you do?

Would it surprise you to know the pastor I listened to today had no problem with one of those issues, but strongly objected to the other? You might agree with him. Or maybe your position is just the opposite.

I agree with him on one and don’t quite see eye-to-eye on the other.

Regardless of your positions, is your faith big enough to allow for others to disagree with you? Can you live according to your conviction without judging others? It’s harder than it sounds.

For example, someone may feel strongly that drinking alcohol is a sin for Christians. That same person may also be 50 pounds overweight and not feel quite so strongly about gluttony.

I can’t help thinking that we spend too much time majoring on the minors and not enough time majoring on the majors. Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God and the second was like it, to love your neighbor as yourself.

So I wonder what would happen if we spent more time on those two commandments and less time worrying about, fighting over and judging others on issues that didn’t come close to making the top two.