We were standing toe to toe in the apartment, yelling… veins popping out on the forehead… mouth wide open… neighbors getting concerned.  A discussion between two friends had quickly transformed into a heated debate over a meaningless topic – Boxing.   The heated debate began when my roommate marched in the room and asked, “In your opinion, do you think boxing is the greatest sport of all time”?  I looked up from my bowl of cereal and simply said, “I think boxing is stupid and somewhat staged”.  His head nearly exploded in disgust… and thus ensued the argument.

A couple of years later, I was sitting in a college course on creative writing… trying to finish my education so I could enter the “real world”.  The final grade of the course would come from a poem where the student would select the style, the topic, the form, and the length.  I completed the assignment, turned it in, and received a “D”.  My jaw hit the floor.  At the final class, I presented the grade to the professor and asked, “What’s up with this”?  pointing at the grade.  She peered over her glasses and said she didn’t like it.  I paused for a moment, and asked, “Did I not complete the assignment”?  She took a deep breath, agreed that I had completed the work as assigned, but continued on to say, “I just didn’t like the poem”.  I was furious… my head nearly exploded in disgust… and thus began the debate.

Opinion is what launches rockets, ships, campaigns, greatness, sadness, depression, economic collapse, success, failure, movements, ideals, hate, disgust, gossip, and the list goes on infinitely.

The Old Testament is loaded with stories about people who began following their own opinions which lead nations off course and moved people away from God.  The New Testament is the correction.  It’ where we see Jesus Christ walk into the picture to brightly and clearly tell us that trying to live as God’s children from our own understanding isn’t going to work.

We all have an opinion, but that doesn’t make us right.  We all have ideas, but that doesn’t make us smart.  We all have a strong feeling on how things should be done, but that doesn’t make it the best way.  We take the life we’ve been given and use that experience to form opinions… but without a consistent foundation… it’s just you versus me.

Just because we have opinions, doesn’t mean we have the right answers.  And the notion that whoever yells the loudest has the right answer is pathetic.  Worse yet… are those people in positions of authority who solely use their opinion to reject or admonish others.  Opinion is what we use to offer advice and guidance, but what is the foundation?  Where do we originate our ideas?  If it’s from you alone, it needs some back-up.

As people of faith, we have to do better than this.  We have to understand that our opinion has a few flaws inherently built in. Jesus came and said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. 

If you aren’t living with Christ as your opinion setter… and you want to tell me how to live my life and what I’m doing right and wrong… well you and the horse you rode in on can move along.

Be careful who you allow to shape your life.  Don’t take the opinion of people to be the final word… test it against God’s word in Christ.  If it doesn’t pass the test of Christ’s teachings… move along.

I’m guessing you have an opinion on this…