Who-o-o are you, oooh, ooohh, oooh, oooh . . . we really want to know.
Are you a leader or a follower, a team player or a poor sport? Are you part of the solution or the problem, a finisher or a quitter? Are you a pleaser or a rebel, an encourager or one who dampens the spirit? Do you have faith or are you a doubting Thomas? Are you on the side of black or white and do you stand by what is popular or what is upright? Or are you sitting somewhere safer, out of harm’s way, indeterminate and vague?
The spectrum of character is wide and goes from one end of the rainbow to the other. However, knowing there is a vast pallet of colors available to test, dabble in, embrace, seize, cling to, or run from, you may be tempted because of a lack of faith, experience, knowledge, or strength to find comfort somewhere in between black and white, good and bad, righteous and injustice.
It could be that you feel you don’t fit in any of these classes of character. You might think of yourself as impartial, on the fence, unbiased, or a disinterested or disconnected kind of person. You might feel more comfortable and safer in saying you’re really in the gray area, not leaning too much one way or the other. But is there really a gray area of life worth living?
Is gray an acceptable shade of character or just a way to hide or blend into neutrality? Isn’t it really a place where you can refuse to take sides, hide behind a blanket of bleak color, and or feel secure when you decline to stand up to people who can make you feel bad, small or intimidated?
The color gray can be viewed as old, aged, dreary or depressing. It comes off as rather drab, lifeless, and colorless. Its hue is dull and uninspiring. However, gray with respect to colors of character might be deemed as gutless, spineless, weak, or cowardly. Is that who you are? Is that the way you want to live your life? Is that what you will pass down to your children or the legacy you will leave in the world? Will gray get you into the gates of Heaven?
You have but one life. With this gift of life, refuse to play it safe! Change that part of you where nothing is definitive or alive. Allow exciting and unconditional love to live in the words you dare to utter, and where there is an occasion let the light of faith explode in your actions.
Fight against the claws of neutrality because it is everything God is not! He created the world. Beauty, color, unity and love were just some of the qualities at the core of his great design, all not faded nor lacking in rich vivid and vibrant colors of hope and love.
God also gave you the wonderful gift of ministry! He wants you to carry on where your predecessors have left off. He gave you His Son Jesus to imitate, and the gospels of disciples to study. Read your bible and have a wonderful uplifting conversation with another who shares in your faith or with someone you can draw in closer! It would be the most important, entertaining, uplifting, eye opening and insightful best seller you ever read! It is holy and the ultimate book of imponderables, miracles, and hope that literature has to offer.
Take time out of your busyness and give yourself quiet moments to connect with God! He is the original author on life and it is He who will give you something real to gnaw on and live by! If you don’t know enough, stand by what you do know, investigate and educate yourself, and then share it. Be an inspiring teacher, a stirring mentor, and a moving individual.
Neutral is not what you were born to be, nor is it your destination. You are more than the tie breaker of a conversation, debate, or dispute. You have the potential to be the enlightening disciple of faith, hope and love. You have the opportunity to set paths straight.
It is you who will stand up for moral, good, just, honor, decency, and honesty when darkness presents itself because you will find strength knowing that God is with you in all that you set out to do. It is you who will be the good example when your spouse strays and insightful and compelling to the one with the strongest contrary personality and opinion.
It is through your heart and actions that the doubtful might see the greatness of the power of the Holy Spirit in you and could be awed by your God given strength and resolve. Never give up! There is always someone who can be touched, converted or willing to engage in meaningful dialogue.
Wash your hands of gray indecisiveness, and bring out the hope, love and faith of the bright spirit that dwells inside you. The Holy Spirit is your support when you put your reputation on the line. With God on your side who can be against you! Show your great faith when you must endure the greatest of hardships for the just cause. Your Creator will back you when you are wearing the colors of His disciples of faith.
“Who are you? Who were you? Who could you have been?” God knows what you are capable of and He is watching and waiting for you to live like you know you were dying.
At the end of your life, whether it is in decades from now, in a few short months after a life debilitating disease, or at dawn when you will not wake from your deep sleep, you will be able to say, “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.”
2 Timothy 4:1-8
A reading from the second Letter of Saint Paul to Timothy
Beloved: I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearance and his kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths. But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry.
For I am already being poured out like a libation and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness waits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance.
