Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
8 24 2026
When Gray Becomes Normal
I heard someone say, “Life is in color.” And somebody else answered, “Yeah, but black and white is so much more realistic.”
Boy, there are so many ways to take that, aren’t there? Because color gives us all kinds of shades and variations. And black and white? Well, black and white seems much more definitive. But even black and white isn’t really just black and white. Move from white toward black and you pass through all kinds of shades of gray.
And I think there’s something powerful about that when we think about truth.
We know what it’s like to be in a completely dark room. Turn off every light, close the curtains, and give your eyes a few minutes. You can’t see anything. You don’t know where you are. You’re afraid to take a step because you might run into something, trip over something, or hurt yourself.
But then just give yourself a little light.
Maybe it’s a partial moon coming through the window. Maybe it’s the first light of sunrise. Maybe it’s the last light of sunset. It isn’t enough light to see everything clearly, but it’s enough to begin moving.
You move more slowly. More carefully. More gingerly. But you can move.
And I wonder if that is what happens to us spiritually.
We start out with a pretty clear understanding of right and wrong. We think we know what God says and we think we know what Scripture teaches, although we spend far too little time there. But we know that certain things honor God and others do not.
But then we begin moving away from the light. Not necessarily in one giant step.
Just a little. And when we move away from the light, our eyes begin to adjust to the darkness. That’s the danger. Because darkness doesn’t always feel like darkness at first. Sometimes it looks like gray. And gray can be awfully comfortable. Especially when we have come out of a darker place.
We tell ourselves, “Well, it’s not really wrong. It’s just not what I would choose.”
Or, “Everybody does it.” Or, “I don’t see anything wrong with it.” Or maybe the most dangerous one of all: “I know it isn’t exactly right, but it isn’t really that bad.” And slowly, without even realizing it, our definition of acceptable begins to change.
Our senses become dull.
Our conscience becomes quieter. And we have found ourselves traversing into the gray shades of living…headed in the wrong direction. And what once would have bothered us doesn’t bother us quite as much anymore.
James Dobson experienced something that illustrates this very powerfully. In the 1980s, Dobson served on the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography. He later described what he saw as a process of desensitization—the human mind’s remarkable ability to adapt to things that initially shock us.
Think about that. Something can shock you the first time you see it. Then you see it again. And again. And again.
And eventually what once seemed absolutely unacceptable becomes familiar. And what becomes familiar can become normal. And what becomes normal can eventually become acceptable. Light…to varying shades of gray…into darker shades…to black.
That principle isn’t limited to pornography. It applies to almost everything. The first time you hear somebody use that kind of language, it bothers you. Then you hear it again. And again. And pretty soon, you don’t even notice it. The first time you watch something that compromises your values, you feel that little check in your spirit. But watch enough of it, and the check gets quieter. The first time you participate in a dishonest business practice, you know it isn’t right. The money’s great. But if you keep doing it, you can eventually find a way to explain it.
The first time you cross a boundary in a relationship, you know you’ve crossed it. But if you keep moving that boundary, eventually you can convince yourself that the boundary was never there in the first place.
That’s how gray works. It doesn’t usually announce itself.
It doesn’t say, “Hello, I’m here to pull you away from God.” It simply coerces you to take one more small step away from the light. And here’s the extraordinary thing about light: you don’t have to create it. “You just have to move toward it”.
Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Notice what Jesus didn’t say. He didn’t say, “I will give you enough light to justify whatever direction you want to go.” He said, “Follow Me.” That’s the answer to the gray…Follow the light.
Because the farther we get from the light, the harder it becomes to distinguish between what is right and what is almost right. And sometimes “almost right” is more dangerous than obviously wrong. Nobody gets lost because they knowingly walk into the middle of a dark forest saying, “I have no idea where I’m going.” They get lost because they took one turn….Then another. And eventually they look around and realize, “I don’t recognize where I am.” I’m lost!
Spiritually, that can happen to us. And maybe today you need to ask yourself a question that isn’t comfortable…but could be incredibly important:
Where have I become comfortable with gray?
Where have I allowed something into my life that I once would have recognized as wrong? Where have I stopped listening to that little voice of conviction because I didn’t want to hear it anymore? Where have I adjusted my standards instead of allowing God to adjust my heart?
Because here’s the good news. If you’ve moved into the gray, you haven’t moved beyond the reach of the light.
The light is still there….God hasn’t moved.
We may have moved away from Him, but He hasn’t moved away from us….And the way back isn’t complicated. Turn around… Move toward the light. Open His Word… Listen to His voice. Let His truth sharpen your senses… again.
Romans 12:2 says, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
That’s what we need. Not a little better ability to live in the gray. We need renewed minds that can recognize truth. Because the goal isn’t simply to avoid the darkest places. The goal is to live so close to the Light that we can recognize darkness when we see it. Right off.
So maybe life really is in color. Maybe there are a thousand shades between white and black. But when it comes to truth, we don’t need to invent our own shades. We have a Light to follow. And Jesus said, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness.”
So today, don’t ask, “How close to the darkness can I get without technically doing something wrong?”
Ask a better question: How close to Jesus can I stay? If we would just meditate on Him for awhile. Sit and be still. Be intentional about our spiritual inventory.
Because when you’re walking toward the Light, you don’t have to spend your life arguing about the gray.
The closer you get to the Light, the easier it becomes to see Him.
Questions to think about:
- Where in my life have I become more comfortable with gray than I used to be?
- What is God asking me to bring back into the light?
- Am I asking, “How far can I go?” or am I asking, “How closely can I follow Jesus?”
Thank you for spending these few minutes with me today. My prayer is that these devotionals don’t simply give you something to think about, but draw you into a deeper love for Jesus Christ.
If someone forwarded this devotional to you and you’d like to receive future devotionals each week, you can subscribe here: http://eepurl.com/i_nlb2
If you’d like to go even deeper, I’d love to invite you to join me beginning Tuesday, September 1st, for my free six-week online course, Discovering Jesus. We’ll meet Tuesday evenings from 7:00–8:30 p.m. as we explore the foundational truths of our faith and, more importantly, deepen our relationship with Christ. You’re welcome to invite your spouse, family members, friends, or neighbors. I’ll provide all of the materials at no charge. Just let me know. . To join the video meeting, click this link: https://meet.google.com/zkb-dxcq-iau
Until next time, keep your eyes on Jesus…because He truly is the Treasure. Blessings,
CC Winans
Leave a Comment