What Do You Think Wednesday?

I remember years ago as I was becoming a more biblical Christian a friend began asking me a series of questions: she wanted to know if I would still hang with certain people, attend certain places and do certain things. I don’t remember all her questions or my responses, but when I said I wasn’t going to toss the poems I had written with some curse words and that I would just modify them, she determined that I was still “reasonable.”

Recently, in response to my post about Republicans using the terms “legitimate rape” and “forcible rape,” another more liberal friend referred to me as “reasonable.” She said she appreciated the post that showed that “anti-abortion” doesn’t mean “pro-misogyny.”

But what happens when you do what you think God has told you to do and your friends no longer think you’re reasonable? How do you respond to them and others who oppose what you say, particularly how you say it, when you believe God has given you what to say and how to say it?

Those are questions I believe we all should ponder as the course of this world is fast changing. A friend in conversation last night observed that issues we now face don’t seem to leave room for people to be in any grey area. She cited how some Christians once could easily say they are against abortion except in cases of rape and incest; she finds those Christians she knows now are having a hard time with that position with pro-abortion activists citing the ability to terminate a pregnancy from rape or incest as the reason why abortions should remain legal across the board. You now simply have to choose: either you’re for abortion or you’re not; either you’re for gay rights or you’re not; either you’re a Democrat or a Republican. The world is making it hard to blur the lines, to stay in safe spaces, to move into an area where people may not see you as reasonable. 

I don’t know all my answers to the questions I challenge us to ponder, but I have been meditating on the following scriptures and suggest you do, too. Also, pray that God will give you more scriptures to consider and show you the stand that will please Him:

“Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.”–Matthew 12:30 (NLT)

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth….'” (Revelation 3:15-16)

“But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men….'”–Acts 5:29 (ESV)

What scriptures do you/can you use to fortify you to do what God would have you to do? As always, please tell me what you think.