Black, White and Shades of Grey

Being a “Christian” seems to have way too many definitions these days.
What does it even mean any more really?
You have extremist on either end of the spectrum:
The ones who feel that you can live your life how you want and as long as you love God thats all that matters,
And the ones who live according to every letter of every biblical verse ever written.
Somewhere in the middle lies the majority, who believe in biblical principles and do their best to live by them.
I feel like Christianity today is turning into a giant buffet.
People can come and pick and choose whatever they like and don’t like and its all okay.
That makes no sense to me.

Sure, I have braided my hair,
And I wear jewelry,
And I even eat pork,
So I guess I am not the letter of the law girl.
But there are certain things in the Bible that God was crystal clear on his feelings towards;
Do we just ignore that and justify our blatant disregard with the reasoning that times change and thats not really what God meant?
I don’t think so.
I don’t buy the whole “no judgement; what works for you works for you, what works for me works for me” mentality.
I think there is right and wrong.
Plain and simple.
Some things are a little grey, but that grey category fits a very small number of issues, while most people act though almost everything fits.
In fact, it seems like its come down to all that exists are grey areas.
Everyone should just be able to figure it out for themselves and whatever they come up with is right for them.
How does that make sense?
Do we really consider ourselves so wise and all knowing that we don’t even need the Bible anymore?
Is that what “Christianity” in our culture has come to?
That we think we know more than God?
It makes me so upset when I see people I care about who have totally allowed themselves to believe this whole “grey” mentality.
There are no more standards?
No wrong, no right?
It’s just all relative to interpretation?
No.
I refuse to believe thats what our existence has evolved into;
Just wandering through life without a road map or point of reference,
Nothing to guide us or lead us.
What kind of life is that?
No, God did not just drop us here on earth and say “have fun figuring it out.”
He gave us guidelines to live by,
And a clear and concise way to know what His will is.
The Bible doesn’t have an expiration date,
And an all-knowing God knew exactly the way our world would change,
But He still said what He said,
And He meant it.

If there is one thing that every Christian should have in common it is the desire to live the way Jesus would have lived,
And model after His example.
What example was that?
Love everyone?
Absolutely.
But does that mean we should condone their sins?
Absolutely not.

The Holy Spirit has a job to convict peoples hearts, and its not your place or mine to infringe on that.
That doesn’t mean that it is wrong to speak against sin,
And that doesn’t mean it is wrong to take action against the promotion of sin in our culture.
We have to love everyone,
While still not only setting an example of how to live,
But showing them that sin is sin.
If we never speak out against wrong,
How can anyone know what wrong really is?
If we condone or promote sin,
Our children grow up thinking that sin is normal and good.
Is that really what we want for them?

The culture today paints of picture of people with conscience.
They are closed minded.
They are ignorant.
They are hateful.
If you stand against something because of your convictions,
That makes you a bigot.
It’s makes me so sad thats the world my children are growing up in.
A place where speaking truth is considered wrong.
How backwards.

The eternal question will always be,
What Would Jesus Do?
But the funny thing is that we spend so much time and effort and energy rationalizing away our doubts or our consciences,
When all we have to do to find the truth is open the Bible.
The answers are there, you just have to search for them.
In our culture of “whatever works for you” its hard to grasp the concept of a black and white world, Where right is right,
And wrong is wrong,
And the grey fades away.
But its real, and its there.
You just have to open your eyes to the truth and see it for yourself.

#Blessings365

Blessing 46: Conscience
-The ability to know good from evil and act according to my God-given convictions.