February Newsletter

This is the articles from a newsletter that I send out to all my teens each month. This particular issue was a "Black and White special edition", so it was a little different than the normal color version.

BLACK

There are many things in life that seem very clear-cut (or black and white if you will). Then again, there are many things that are not clear by any means. This month’s newsletter is a special edition for this concept of black and white.
We read that in the beginning God created the heaven’s and the earth. The earth was formless and dark. This was not acceptable to God, and so the first thing he created was light. Why did he do this first? Couldn’t he have waited until the fourth day, when he created the sun, moon, and stars?
God created light as a separation from the darkness. Thus, in the beginning, God created black and white. Upon this concept, he based his whole creation. Darkness being a separation from the light, un-desirable, un-clear, and often evil.
When sin entered the world, darkness became a daunting force. It was a clear entity that screamed that it was different that God, because God is light. This darkness engulfed human beings with it’s lies of power, knowledge, and self-indulgence.
Sin, by its very nature, is hidden. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, their first response was to hide. The same is true for us. We rarely show our sin to everyone around us. We, rather, choose to conceal it with darkness.
Most of the sin that entangles us can be concealed from other humans. You probably do not know all my sins, and I do not know yours. Most of us would love to keep it this way having people assume the best of us. We then can fool ourselves that sin is not a “huge” issue (maybe its gray). But to God, it is black and white. In Revelation 3:14-16, Jesus proclaims his wish that we were either hot or cold (black or white if you will), and not live in the middle ground. The black areas have no power. God’s light will prevail either now, or in the end.

WHITE

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light: in him here is no darkness at all.” - 1 John 1:5
John goes on the say that if we claim to be “with” God, but live in “darkness” we are liars. Because God is light, he calls us to be light as well. But how do we deal with this issue of sin in our lives? This sin makes us dark and separate from God.
God calls us to put our sins in the light. To confess them to one-another. He, then will purify us from our unrighteousness and we will be like the Psalmists writes “as white as snow.”
There is something beautiful about a fresh coat of snow covering the earth. Everything looks so clean and pure. That is how our lives should look in Jesus Christ. In a snow covered field, no black object can hide. It stands in stark contrast to its surroundings. That is how our sin should look on the blanket of our lives.
There is no better contrast of black and white than the picture of heaven. Sure there will be streets of gold and gates of pearl, but the coolest description of heaven (to me) is no darkness. All will be light.
I wonder while we are in heaven if we will forget was black looks like. I wonder if we will look around in awe of the beautiful colors of heaven and remember how silly we were to live in darkness while on the earth. Why not let the brightness of God shine in you now?

GRAY

There are many times in my life that I wish more things were black and white. Sometimes I wish all of life was just that clear. I have a friend who is color blind and deals with this idea on a daily basis. I can’t help but think how different life would be if all we saw was black and white.
I guess the heart of what I am saying, is I sometimes wish God always dealt in black and white. It seems that there are many issues that fall into the category of gray. This area leaves us guessing and hoping that we are not messing up because we interpreted a gray item wrong.
There are many things that fit into the category. God commands us to worship him. The early Christians did this on Sunday. Now we wonder if it matters where we place the Lord’s Supper, if we have to meet twice in one day, or if in has to be in a building.
God gives us instruction to sing praises to him. The problem is that he doesn’t lay out all the ground rules on how that should happen. Can we clap? Can we sing in four-part harmony? Can we use instruments?
Scriptures as well give us examples of elders, deacons, and deaconesses. In different accounts we read of some qualifications and the intent of the position, but never a clear cut job description.
Why didn’t God just set up everything in black and white? He did it with the plan of salvation. Why not spell out exactly how we should worship him?
Who knows all of God’s reasoning for doing what he did? I do not pretend to know why he did it, but I do have an observation that might lead to one reason God did it.
When we are presented with a gray area, we have to think. We have to study and often times require the help of others. It seems that we grow in the gray areas. We build identity, friendships, and love in these areas. God may have created the gray areas for his church of grow and spur one another on.