What is My Statement of Faith?

Our Pastor has been spending a lot of time lately talking about world views - what is my world view? Basically, it boils down to this question - "What is my statement of faith?". You know how churches have a "Statement of Faith" or purpose statement? This is what he's been preaching - what is my personal statement of faith.

It begs an interesting answer. Do I even have a statement of faith that I live by? Obviously we all do - whether it's purposeful and written down or not. We all have a statement of faith/life that we live by. I know I've talked in the past how I like to use Romans 12 as my life passage, but that's how I live out my statement of faith. What do I really believe?

This has been an ongoing spiritual issue for me. At times in my life, it has actually been a crisis. I've been face to face with an issue and forced to answer the question, "What do I believe about this issue?". At times, I think it's an easy question - like, do I believe that all life is sacred. So, when someone kills someone else, it's easy for me to say "that was wrong"....but then, if I believe ALL life is sacred, what do I believe about the killer receiving the death penalty. Yes, there are consequences for actions....does that change my belief of all life being sacred? I don't know about you, but it's not just that simple for me. It's not simply a statement of here's what I believe....it's not all black and white to me. I've heard preachers preach that everything with God is black or white...good or evil....I'm not sure I believe that. I believe that God sees things as more than black and white and it shows in how He handed out consequences. If He saw everything as either black or white, would not the consequences for the same sins be the same? Maybe I am over-analyzing this entire subject. (I think I should just make the assumption that I am - it's totally my nature). Maybe there is supposed to be black and white thinking, and I'm just not there yet. Maybe there is supposed to be this hard line of good vs. evil in our lives and I just haven't found that line yet. Deep down, though, I don't believe that.

I know this probably just rambling, but it's a serious issue that I face in my spiritual life. I am faced daily with decisions that seem like they should be easy to make - black vs. white, good vs. evil - but they aren't that easy, and the answers seem to go back to the question that is asked - what is my statement of faith? What do I truly believe? Do I believe, truly, that all life is sacred? Does your life become less sacred because of the choices you make? This is only one of the areas I struggle with....there are more. Scary, I know? Maybe I am just not the spiritual giant that I once thought I was. I know that God has the answers, so I turn to His word. I turn to Him and seek the answer to the question, "What is my statement of faith?". Perhaps that is my new goal - to write my statement of faith down, and see how my life actions compare to that. A good goal, I believe.