Colossians 2:6-7 “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”
Everything is not always black or white, or so I’ve been told. I’ve heard that there are always “gray areas.” For example, just yesterday for the first time, I heard of a flexitarian. I can remember a time when a person either ate meat or they didn’t. Now there are turketarians, lactotarians, ovotarians, and more! There actually are far too many “-tarians” to enumerate here.
Gray areas can also be found in personal accountability. For example, I grew up during a time when lying was considered to be wrong… period. Now, there are bold-faced lies, lies of omission, white lies… all related to a specific degree of lying in which some are supposedly less of a lie than others and thus more acceptable.
Lastly, I remember a time when there were only two political ideologies… conservative or liberal! Now we are plagued with “gray areas” in our government. We have the moderates, the extremists, the progressives, the ultra-this or that, and even some positions that seem to be anti-American!
Gray areas seem to be a way to legitimize a position of compromise or the unwillingness to take a stand. If I can’t make a decision, I can opt for a “gray area.” As I pondered my verse for today, I realized there are no gray areas in a life lived for Jesus. Living for Christ is definitely black or white. I’m either striving to follow God’s Word, or I’m not. And what was even more eye-opening for me was that if I am not living for Christ, I am living against Him! There is no middle road (Matthew 12:30). I am to live my life according to what I am learning through His Word. It is a continuous learning process, which enables me to grow in my faith and make decisions that are “right in the sight of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 12:28). If I choose not to follow Christ, then I am deciding to follow the ways of the world and the powers of darkness. I cannot claim to be walking with Christ if I continue to have one foot in the world. It just doesn’t work that way. That doesn’t mean I am perfect. I still make wrong choices, but I learn from them, repent of them, seek His forgiveness, and continue striving to live a life more acceptable to God.
The choice is clear. Either I’m walking with Christ or I’m not. Period. No shades of gray.
“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” – Joshua 24:15
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“Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord, to thee.” (excerpt from “Take my Life and Let It Be” by Frances R. Havergal)