Romans 14

Find myself in an emotional stew today. Does the essence of the Christian life consist in believing in, following, loving and obeying Jesus or in learning doctrinal positions and defending them against all comers? For some years I did the latter, influenced by pastors who had received specialized theological training. It resulted in incessant argument and division. Ultimately it led me to the destructive fantasy of being a church of one. Yet to this day I know solid, Biblically literate brothers, friends of mine, who find the correct eschatology (end times)or soteriology (correct understanding of the process of salvation in contrast to whether one is regenerated or not) of the utmost importance. Perhaps I am ignorant of the true importance of these things.
Last summer at a regional gathering of the saints, most of whom gather in house churches, a middle aged man approached me after I had offered some public comments. He began by saying, somewhat apologetically, that he didn't fellowship in a home gathering. Immediately I asked whether he loved Jesus to which he replied with an enthusiastic and fervent affirmative. We then proceeded to have great fellowship together. I didn't think of him as suspect or ignorant or problematic because he didn't happen to attend a house church. We're brothers in Christ for all eternity.
Recently I read Romans 14 again. Paul the apostle, inspired by the Holy Spirit, gives leeway for believers to receive understandings from the Lord which vary on such issues, crucial at that time, of what they could eat and what days they needed to observe. The crucial point is whether we are the Lord's. "For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living." (Rom. 14:8-9) The Lordship of Christ is the crucial issue. Paul goes to ask, "Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God."
(v.10) May we examine Romans 14 anew.