I had an interesting conversation today, one that really got me thinking about the meaning between black-white and the grayscale ways of thinking. Why is it that we are so often divided by silly differences in our thought processes, when our love and goal is the same? If we claim to be believers and followers of Christ, why do we let mis-understandings break our bonds and bring division to the Church?
I am definitely more of a black-white type person. I think logically and almost algebraically, as in 2+2=4 and by grace=we have been saved. That’s how I read, that’s how I develop processes, and how I think of things in terms of organization. When I am struggling with something, my solution is to completely remove it and provide a solution knowing the exact cause. I am not trained or built to think about the process, but to think about what I need to do to get the answer. This is who God made me.
Now when communicating with grayscale people, I can come across as aggressive and intimidating. Often grayscalers think about the process, and are comfortable without having the solution or exact schedule of what is going to happen, when it’s going to happen, and et cetera. They are more abstract, this is who God made them to be. This freaks me out, not knowing. This is uncomfortable for me. But for people who think in the gray, I make them uncomfortable. This is not a good division. There is no right “way” to think.
After years of trying to understand my faith and my role in loving Jesus, there is no clear cut answer. We have a final destination in terms of the Kingdom, but we also have a very unknown road to follow. We are given hints on how to love Jesus and people, but we aren’t given a formula for the exact right way to do it. We have to deal with the unknown process to get a result. There is room for both.
When it comes to being in relationship with people, Satan’s ultimate goal is to provide mis-understanding, mis-communication, and division. He wants to confuse the heck out of people, and ruin God given unity by getting us to focus on the wrong things. He uses an argument like smoking pot or having sex before you’re married to distract us from the root issues. People are easily deceived, and if he can show you or make you feel like someone doesn’t understand you because you “think” differently, he has accomplished his goal. He creates division through a vessel of good intentions. What if we learned to accept and embrace these differences in thinking, realizing we all have the ultimate goal of serving God? It’s his job to convict; it’s our job to serve. Now that is truth.
It is good to be surrounded and in community with people who think differently. Grayscaler’s level me, and I level them. It is a win win situation when you have this combination, because all parts of the body have a place to work together and flourish; but only if both sides refuse to be divided and work toward the common goal of loving God and loving people.
There are some things that can’t be compromised, but arguing between the process and the goal is useless at times. Both people need to be accepting and embracing both sides in order to be united. Think about how much division this has caused? Broken friendships, relationships, marriages; all because we don’t know how to communicate effectively and are stubborn and pridefully attached to “our” way or no way. It’s heartbreaking. We have a responsibility to accept people just as they are. We are no better just because we are different.
I am sorry if I have mis-communicated this to people in my life. That’s not who I am, even if it has appeared that way.
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