First Opinions: Chaper one, Verse one

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17

Christians are often labeled as seeing black and white, being judgmental, being legalistic (although they are misusing the word) and putting too much credence into rules and laws. However, we know as believers, God has definite truths and laws in His word that are very black and white. The world doesn't like these absolutes about sin, but we know we are to cling to and love God's directives for us. Thank goodness we have clear sin and clear righteousness spelled out for us.

Sometimes, however, I believe we transfer our nature of seeing things in terms of black and white into areas that are merely opinion. I can't say whether this is a human quality or a problem that plagues the church body, but we often find ourself judging others on areas that do not warrant judgment.

For example, some believers ademently believe in homeschooling or Christian school. The Bible does have directives on teaching the Word to your children and being holy, but the Bible does not say to avoid public school. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with believing that this or that school is the best situation for YOUR family, but we run into problems when we project our preference onto others. Another family could be doing more teaching of the Bible at home with their publicly schooled children than you assume a Christian school is doing for your child, while you don't as zealously pursue it at home since the Christian school is "covering" it.

The book of opinions runs deep: what foods you should be eating, the amount of activities into which you can place your child, what vitamins you should be taking, how expensive of a car is being vain, how much money should be given to church, whether television in any amount or capacity is evil or unholy, the correct way to feed your children, the book method of discipline to which you ascribe, how many Christian books we should be reading, preferential birthing methods, at what age children should date, what is a more biblical curfew: nine or ten?, when and if can girls wear makeup, whether dancing is unholy, and the list goes on and on.

The Bible gives us truths to follow and apply in our lives. I believe the Bible is applicable to all situations we face. For example, television can be bad when it is given priority over our relationship with God or our serving our ministries. Also, it can be sinful when the content you are watching is unholy. Even when we have "gray" areas, there are right and wrong answers for each of us, but they might differ from one situation to another.

We all know we need to repent of our sin and put our faith and trust in Christ, we need to make God our number one priority, we need to love others more than ourselves, we need to be involved and serving in the church body, we need to discipline our children, we need to encourage and admonish others, we need to be holy, and we need to go and make disciples of all men. There are commands we cannot ignore or see as "gray."

However, we must be careful about our strong opinions. We can cause division and false judgment of others when we see our preferences or where God is leading us as the only way (I am NOT talking about the truths spelled out clearly in God's word). Before you cast judgment on another believer, see if God's word is in agreement with you or see if you are only clinging to an opinion. We must remember that everyone's situation is different regarding finances, schooling, diet, etc. When you come to decisions in life, look to the Word, pray, and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Once you make a decision, thank God for giving you wisdom and leading, and humble yourself to know that God is the one who imparts wisdom and insight, not us. We are all, hopefully, sheep looking to the Shepherd for answers.