Middle Grey

I feel like if the Church as a whole had a color attached to it, like a high school or a sports team, our color would be middle grey. It's the perfect in between color, it's not too dark and depressing like black; it's also not too bright and cheery like white; it's comfortably in the middle. It makes everyone happy, we can easily blend in with the black in the world with out being too awkward, yet without completely conforming.


Christians like to stay as close to the worldly things as we can and still feel like we can legitimately call ourselves Christians still. The truth is that our faith is nothing if it's not 100%, we are either for God or we are against Him, that means you don't get to pick, choose, or edit His words. Even if you choose to be against God you can't change His words and His truth, you can choose to be deceived and you can choose to fight that truth but you cannot change it.


As Christians we are terrible at the part of Christianity that makes us step out of our comfort zone and actually be different than the rest of the world. We all like the part of Christianity that donates money to charity, we even like the part where we donate our time and talents, that's easy. The reason why most of us like this aspect of Christianity is because we get all the glory, we have lots of people who thank us and tell us how wonderful we are for giving up so much to help others. That part is easy, it's easy to give from your extra and your abundance and then be rewarded for it; the problem is this is a worldly reward and it will be the only thing you ever get if you are not giving the glory back to God, the only one who deserves it.


When it comes right down to it we don't want to disagree too strongly or at all with the things of this world because that means that people are going to judge us and say mean things about us. We don't want to lose friends, we don't want to be outcasts, we don't want people to.....catch the trend here, it's all about us and other people. No where in this mindset are we concerned with God and His thoughts and feelings about us, we justify our behavior that it's okay to keep silent, it's okay to not be too different; we tell ourselves as long as we don't commit the sin that we see all around us then we are still doing right.


It's comfortable to keep watching inappropriate TV shows and movies, and a little worldly music won't hurt, and it's okay to sin as long as it's not too often and as long as it's not one of the "really bad" sins. I think the classification hierarchy we have created for which sins are worse than others is absolutely ridiculous too, to God all sin is evil and He despises it all equally, there is no such thing as better or worse sin.


I am by no means perfect, it is easy to write about the things I have struggled with and continue to struggle with. I don't want to allow the enemy to use the social pressure of the world to make me choose to conform to worldly standards in exchange for my Father's standards. I struggle everyday with making compromises to keep the peace and maintain my image so that people will not think I'm too crazy. God says we will be persecuted because of Him, people will think we are foolish, people with say terrible things about us, we will lose friends. The best part about all of that is knowing that it is all worth it, He always has good intentions towards us, He is alive within us and is always with us, and He loves us so much that He reserved a place in heaven just for us because we are called His own.


Pick a side, choose your team color, black or white, there is no middle grey.


In Christ's Love,
Reed Eden