I ranted to some close friends not too long ago about how tired I was of having to hedge my own personal journey after Christ in order not to offend those "weak" in their faith, and how I no longer wanted to sacrifice my liberties just to pacify those who, for their own reasons, weren't convinced of the same things I was. I didn't anticipate then that I would soon speak up for the other perspective's behalf. <br><br> A song "Back To The Middle" written by India Arie has these powerful words that strike me dumb everytime I hear it: "...and now that she's been introduced to confidence, she doesn't see that she is bordering on arrogance; when will she learn to come back to the middle?" It paints a similar portrait of my tendencies to sway back on forth between extremities; and in this case, on the subject of grace and freedom, it's a humbling experience to not notice myself slowly growing in confidence into full-blown pomp and disregard. Oftentimes we don't hear the condescension in our own tones of voice as we boast of our liberties and beliefs; thank God He has his ways of letting you down gently before it all goes too terribly bad, although some times we don't walk away scot-free and someone ends up getting hurt in the process.<br><br> Simply put, I was with two close friends recently, and we are very candid with one another regarding our lives. I think we take for granted that we're all three believers, and seeing as how we trust one another in our walks, we're able to let loose and not be constricted in trying to look presentable for one another. However, in our comforts sometimes we forget that there are those looking in who don't know the full context of our actions, so I know for sure we had caused some others to give us the shifty-eyes. At the time I just shrugged it off and placed the blame on those who had the temerity to judge us, but I guess recently it's caught up to me that my wrong is in my heart's audacity to want to be right instead of ceding certain luxuries for the sake of others. It's an arguable subject, one that could go on for days I suppose, but at this point in time, I needed to address the issue inside my own spirit, and that was to ask God for forgiveness for putting my liberties in front of His people. I seem to be at a loss for eloquence, and I think it's because it's such a vast topic with so many perspectives, I need to be simple with my words to even find my own point within my head. At the end, I'll just let scripture speak for the conviction ringing in my heart with this design: "Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak...[your] weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you... wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ..." (1 Corinthians 8) <br><br> "The Audacity Of Me" is my own warning against myself to myself, that the beauty of freedom is bastardized when it only serves me. I originally had sketched out a person boastfully puffing out his chest, planting his banner of freedom on a mount of skulls and bones. I did away with the person, and just kept it simple with the type, losing the rest of the "freedom" within the background when juxtaposed to the more visible "me". It may seem to be the least encouraging of the designs so far, but my optimism lies in the reminder that the gospel does not just stop in setting me free, but that, like Christ, I have my crowns to lay down too for the sake of others. 2009-06-02T10:07:39Z 3 23 26 /images/090602Audacity-990.jpg /images/090602Audacity-640.jpg /images/090602Audacity-244.jpg JesusBranded examines the complexities of freedom with this Christian T-shirt 59 6 59 /images/090602Audacity-shirts.jpg 2009-06-02T10:07:39Z audacity 2009