Wednesday the 15th

Matthew 12: ³⁷For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."

 

What you say will either acquit you or condemn you. But something is missing in this statement, something that we rely on heavily……often it is not what we say that condemns us, it is our silence. When I read through the Bible I read a lot about the Lord silencing His enemies, I read where David calls on the Lord to silence the lips of  those who tell  lies about Him, I read where Job professes that his lips will not be silenced in praise of the Lord, I read where the crowds are silenced so that Paul can defend the Word of God, and I read where the masses are silenced so that they might hear the Words of the Lord……..but I just cannot find anywhere that talks of our silence defending, uplifting, spreading, or confirming the Word of God. I cannot see where our mute lips refute the wrong, and build up the right. Did you know that in most areas of law silence is considered agreement? If you are in a group that is planning to murder someone, and you say nothing, if that murder comes to pass your silence has locked you in to the act just as if you were a part of it. Even if it does not happen you can still be found guilty of conspiracy just by saying nothing. It works the same way with the Lord. When we remain silent, we become a helping hand in destroying the Body of Christ. We live in a world that everyday becomes more politically correct. Hold your tongue in case you might offend someone they tell you. However that very silence offends the Lord. We must remember the power of our voice. Have you ever been in a football locker room at half time? Is the coach silent? Are the players sitting around staring at the wall, waiting on time to pass? Or course not! That is the time for the pep talk, it is the time to motivate, and lift up.  What about when there is a group of people, and something is said that several people do not agree with? DO those in disagreement sit back and let it go? No, they do not, they join together in one voice and present their opposing view. What about when it is just you and one other person, and that person starts talking trash about a friend of yours…..will you stand up for that friend? You know it! you will defend them to the end. It is just like when we are talking to someone and they start bagging on the Lord, and we …..and we……we look that person straight in the eye….we look that person straight in the eye, and say….nothing! or we sigh, or we walk away in disgust….but our voices that have rallied teams, defended views, and looked out for friends, has vanished. It slipped away, and we just can’t seem to find it. In today’s world we can defend burning the flag, but we must remain silent on our faith. Make no mistake about it, when it comes to the Lord, our silence will be judged just as strongly as our words. We must always speak on behalf of the Lord. We cannot allow ourselves to be beaten into submission by the PC police. We must speak our faith as loudly as we feel it in our hearts. Now that does not mean we go out and hold a burn the Koran day, but it does mean that just like the coach, we encourage with our words, we build with our words, and most importantly we defend with our words. Silence is not golden when it comes to matters of faith, silence is deadly. Yes we will all be judged by our words, some will be acquitted, some condemned, but never be fooled into believing that silence brings salvation, or safety. Christ spoke of forgiveness and His Fathers love right up until He drew His last breath, may we all find the strength to do the same!

 

God bless,

Brian