Let me jump right in and say that I think as Christians we sometimes say too much. We sometimes offer advice that no one asked for, opinions that no one cares about, and thoughts that we really ought to keep to ourselves. Worse yet, we say the right thing to the wrong people!
But I think another problem in Christianity today is that we sometimes don’t say enough. There are times when we have a clear message from God based on a clear Biblical principle, and we keep it to ourselves. We keep quiet for a lot of reasons, including a hesitancy to offend, fear of losing a friend, cowardice, laziness and many others. We see marriages failing, parents struggling, finances struggling, people openly sinning…and we often say nothing!
I think (and yes, there is a clear Biblical principle here) that we are obligated to speak up in these sort of cases. We need to prayerfully consider the situation, be sure we have our facts and theology straight and speak with love…but we HAVE to speak the truth, don’t we?
I was struck by Samuel’s willingness to tell Eli the harsh news that God delivered: Eli, his sons and his entire family would be cut off. Samuel was afraid at first, but then Eli asked him point blank:
"What was it he said to you?" Eli asked. "Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you." So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, "He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes." 1 Samuel 3:17-18 (NIV)
A willingness to deliver both good news and bad became a trademark of Samuel. He told the truth to Eli, to Saul and to the Israelite nation. He did not shrink back from saying what he needed to say. I believe our families, our churches and our nation would be better off if people spoke the truth in love. Period.
I’m terrible at it, and I would rather take the “easy” way out. But I am learning over time that the easy way out isn’t easy at all. It just postpones and worsens the problem.
Though I’m not endorsing the movie necessarily, John Mayer wrote a song for “The Bucket List” that sums up some of these thoughts. I thought you might enjoy it!
