One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind [Rom. 14:5].

“Fully persuaded” means to be convinced, to be assured in your own mind.

Now Paul changes his illustration from diet to the day question. Some people insist that the Lord’s Day is different. Some observe Sunday as the Lord’s Day and others observe Saturday. It is not the day that should be different, but the believer. The particular day is not the important thing. Paul said, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days” (Col. 2:16). Don’t you tell me what day I am to observe. I’m not responsible to you; I am responsible to the Lord Jesus. He is my Master.

When I was a student in seminary, I was in a denomination in the South that were strict Sabbatarians—Sunday was their Sabbath, as they called it. And they didn’t believe in traveling on Sunday. I used to take a train to Augusta, Georgia, to preach, and I left on Saturday evening. Some of the officers of the church wanted to know what time the train got into Augusta! Well, it got in early Sunday morning, and one man said to me, “Doesn’t that disturb you?” I said, “It doesn’t disturb me at all.” Now, I respect that man, and I don’t think he ought to travel on Sunday. But when I am traveling from one speaking engagement to another, and it is necessary to travel on Sunday, I do it without the slightest compunction. Paul says that whatever we do, we should be fully persuaded, convinced, and assured in our own mind that it is the right thing to do.

“Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” means literally he is to be filled to the brim—mind, heart, will, and the total personality. A believer should do only those things to which he can give himself fully and without reserve. My friend, whatever you do for God, you should do with enthusiasm. I think it is sinful the way some people go to church on Sunday. Can you imagine people going to a football game when the alma mater is playing with that same lackluster attitude they have when they attend church? Personally, I don’t go to football games because I think they are a waste of time. But I don’t criticize other folk for going—that’s their business. But when I go to play golf, I go with enthusiasm. And whatever I do for the Lord, I do with enthusiasm. I teach the Bible because I love to teach it. I would rather do it than anything I know of. One of the reasons church work is bogged down as it is today is that there is a lack of enthusiasm. A man is asked to teach a Sunday school class, and he says, “Oh, if you can’t get anybody else, I’ll take it.” Then don’t take it, brother, if that is the way you feel. It would be better for the class to have no teacher than a disinterested, unenthusiastic teacher. Some people are actually committing sin by doing church work! The first great principle is: “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.”

Now let’s bring this principle over to questionable things. Frequently folk, especially young folk, ask me if doing this or that is wrong. I say, “Well, for you I think it is wrong, but for me it’s all right.” Of course they ask me what I mean by that. I tell them, “I have no question about it. If I wanted to do it, I would do it with enthusiasm. The point is, you have a question about it. ‘Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.’ You wouldn’t have come and asked me the question if you had been persuaded in your own mind.” My friend, this is a great guiding principle: if you have a question in your mind about something you are doing—whatever it is—for you it is wrong. It might not be wrong for me, but it is certainly wrong for you.
You recall that Simon Peter followed the Lord afar off after He was arrested. Peter went that night into the judgment hall of the high priest. I sat in the hotel in Jerusalem in the old city on the side of the Valley of Kidron one morning. When the morning sun had come up, it set that whole city ablaze across the Kidron Valley. Over there is a church called the Church of the Cock Crowing. It is situated on the spot where the high priest’s judgment hall was located—that’s where Caiaphas had his home. And that is the place to which Simon Peter came and where he denied three times that he knew the Lord. I am convinced that Simon Peter should not have gone there that night. On the other hand, John, who apparently had a home in Jerusalem and was known in the palace of the high priest, went there and did not deny his Lord. It was all right for John to be there, but it was wrong for Simon Peter. Simon Peter was the weak brother, you see.

Today it is the weak brother who is the “separated” brother. That may seem strange to you. But the people who set up a little legal system of “dos” and “don’ts” bear watching. They are the weak ones. When I was a student in seminary, I used to have a water fight on Saturday night in the seminary dorm. One of the students would gather together two or three of the super–duper saints, and they would pray for us. (I always hoped he would pray that I would win!) We were pretty rough fellows. One night we soaked all the rugs, and we almost got booted out of the place. But this young fellow was a model student. About fifteen years later, I sat down with him and his wife and begged him not to leave her. He told me he had to. I said, “Why?” His reply was this, “Because I have a little daughter by a woman out in Australia, and I want to marry her.” He posed as a super–duper saint, but actually he was a weak brother.
Questionable amusements are wrong for the believer if they are questionable to him. If he can participate in them and maintain a close relationship to Christ, they are not wrong for him. Let me tell you a little story in this connection. Many years ago in Tennessee a young lady went to her pastor with the question, “Do you think it is wrong for a Christian to dance?” He said to her, “Anywhere you can take Jesus Christ with you is all right to go.” That made her angry. She said, “Well, I can take Him to the dance.” The pastor said, “Then go ahead.” So she went to the dance. A boy whom she had not met before cut in on her and danced with her. She had determined to take Jesus Christ with her, so she asked him, “Are you a Christian?” He said, “No.” Wanting to make conversation with her, he asked, “Are you a Christian?” She said, “Yes.” And this is what the unbeliever said, “Then what are you doing here?” After she got home that night she decided that maybe she couldn’t take the Lord Jesus Christ there after all. McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (Romans 9-16) (electronic ed., Vol. 43, pp. 99–102). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

5. Another man esteems all days alike. There is no word in the Greek text corresponding to ‘alike’, although it is added here to complete the sense. It need not mean that ‘another man’ treats every day as secular; it may mean that he treats every day as equally to be dedicated to the service of God, and this was certainly Paul’s attitude. Bruce, F. F. (1985). Romans: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 6, p. 246). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.