I was reminded this morning that there’s often no “right” answer.

A friend, who’s developing a logo for our church, sent me several designs yesterday. There was one I liked more than the others. This morning, he sent the links to a number of church websites so I could check out their logos.

Knowing that I, as a 46-year-old, am not the target audience for our church, I showed the various designs to five college girls who were at our home for breakfast. There was one logo we pretty much all agreed on, but in general they liked design elements that I didn’t. I can’t say I’m surprised.

When it comes to the Christian life, there are just as many different preferences, opinions and convictions. The Bible doesn’t clearly address every area of life. In those areas where the Bible is silent, we’re free to develop our own convictions. For example:

I have friends that attend a United Methodist Church and others that attend the Greek Orthodox Church. My church is non-denominational. None of us are right or wrong.

I know Christian women who have had cosmetic surgery. Other women have convictions that would not allow them to do that. What’s right for one person may not be for another.

You may have a conviction that drinking alcohol is wrong. The person sitting next to you at church on Sunday may have had a couple glasses of wine at dinner the night before.

Some families choose to home school their children. Others send their kids to private Christian schools. We’ve always had our children in public schools. There’s no “best” way for everyone.

The problem comes when someone decides their particular conviction or preference is “right”, “best” or even worse, “biblical.” It’s easy then to judge others or try to get them to conform to your conviction. That’s legalism.

You’re not going to agree with everyone in your church or even everyone in your family. Rather than judging or arguing about individual preferences, choose to love and show grace. We’ve got too much to do to get caught up in senseless arguments.