It comes to one thing

I have held a lot of beliefs in my life.  Things that I knew to be true.  Things that were absolute and indisputable.  Things that I would argue with anyone who would listen.  They were things I had adopted from my parents, my teachers, my church.  They were foundational or so I thought.  Over the course of my maturation into adult, parent and independent thinker most of these arguments have been watered down to mute tones of grey.  Where black and white once stood in sharp contrast to each other they are now mottled together.

But to say that they have become gray is only half true. For me these truths, or at least most of them, continue to be firmly rooted in who I am and how I live.  So in reality they have become two sided coins. The coin facing the world is grey tones of neutrality while the one facing me is stark black and white.  I created this coin to prevent others from being offended by my words.  But in reality I believe.  I am not ashamed that I believe.  I am praying daily that God helps my unbelief.  And I am tired of living with eggshells under my feet.  When did it become hate filled to believe in something?  When did it become wrong to call sin what it is?  When did it make me mean spirited and cold hearted and a hatemonger to believe that God wants me to live in a certain way?

I have boiled it all down to one thing for me and my house.  It comes to one question - who do you say Jesus is? and what are you going to do about that? Okay so that is two questions. But really I don't care if you call him Allah or Yawheh or any other name. I don't care if you worship different than me? I don't care if you believe everything I believe.  I care about this one thing - who do you say Jesus is? So in essence it comes down to one thing -  Who do you say He is - and if you want to talk about that with me be prepared to hear what I believe and not the muddled grey version. I will speak the life giving truth that is my heart and it doesn't mean I won't listen to your heart as a matter of fact I hope you will give me your one thing - your true black and white or gray or purple and orange.  Just let me be me and I will let you be you and in the end we will determine who each of us say Jesus is and still be able to leave the table happy and in harmony.