Day 2154 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Proverbs 18:2 NIV

Probably a long one coming up! "The supply of opinions is starting to exceed the demand." Someone shared that in a Christian group that I'm in here on Facebook this morning. Gotta say, one of the most accurate statements I've seen in a while. Everyone has an opinion, and that's okay. The problem has become that nobody keeps them to themselves anymore.

I'll give you a little example that's been rubbing me wrong here lately. I'm a big fan of the Christian band We The Kingdom. They released what I consider to be one of the best Christian records last year called Holy Water. Now here on social media they've been sharing their videos and promoting their new deluxe version of the record. And in the comments there have been people straight up throwing stones. Calling their music questionable. Saying it's based on shaky theology. Even saying that the music videos are provocative and distasteful.

Well, some didn't like that David danced either. Opinions are fine, but when we start using them as stones to throw and harm others then we've crossed a line. When we allow our selfish ideals to become stumbling blocks that we place before others then we've crossed a line. Whenever we take it upon ourselves to question how someone else praises God or uses the gifts that He gave them, then we're straight up wrong.

Look, we don't all have to agree. We most likely never will. But we don't have to put others down because they're different. We don't have to constantly look for things we don't like or disagree with so that we can voice our own personal opinions. And again, we wonder why things are so bad in our world. Well, might be because we're more worried about voicing our personal opinions than sharing the Gospel and the love that Christ calls us to share.

The whole point is that Christianity shouldn't look like the world. So when we try to filter faith through our opinions of things, we're going the wrong direction. We need to be filtering our opinions through our faith. Spinning the Word to meet what we think is right or okay or good isn't right. And judging someone for how they share messages about Christ, well I just can't get with that. If someone is doing something that is helping encourage others to grow closer to Jesus then who has a right to say they're wrong?

Sadly our faith is beginning to look awful worldly. Judgement everywhere. Arguing and fighting amongst ourselves over petty things. Throwing stones to hurt others over tiny difference. Even leaning toward hatred for those who don't worship or believe exactly like we do. Friends, safe to say that we've taken a wrong turn somewhere and need to check ourselves.

Opinions are fine, but we need to remember that we're the ones that form them. They're based on what we think, so they still involve too much of us. We need to be operating from a foundation of the Gospel, not what we think. We need to get our little messed up selves as far out of the picture as we can!

If all else fails, stick to that old-school idea of if you don't have anything good to say then don't say anything at all. The world has plenty of selfish people spewing their version of what is right. Let's be different and stay focused on what Christ says is right. His opinion is the one that matters! After all, hard to reach out a hand to help someone up when that hand is full of stones to knock them back down!