Sunday morning before our worship gathering I was praying about different things, and at one point I found myself saying something like, "Lord, I don't want to be controversial, but I want to be faithful." The thing is, I had some things to say that I knew were fairly controversial - in regard to nationalism, patriotism, and war - and I hoped I wasn't saying them just to create controversy. Not that I would do that knowingly, but I think the truth is... some people do like to just create controversy, for the sake of being controversial. I don't want to be like that. But, at the same time, I want to be faithful to what I believe God does want me to speak about. And I am fairly confident that I was merely speaking what the text was saying Sunday. But it struck me at the time that that is probably a good thing to remind myself of: don't try to be controversial, but do be faithful. You can create controversy without being faithful to God, but sometimes you can't be faithful without creating controversy. I don't want to create controversy just for the sake of controversy. There will be enough merely in being faithful. And, personally, I am glad for those times I can be faithful and there is little or no controversy. But I want to be faithful to God no matter what.
Peace out; and in.
2 comments:
dan, i find myself trying to find the balance in this all the time (weekly at least). is what i want to say necessary, or do i just want to say it to make waves? it can be very hard to distinguish. sometimes the truth i want to speak isn't the truth someone needs to hear. I used to think the truth always needs to be spoken, but not even jesus spoke all the truth to everyone all the time.
Cindy,
I agree. I used to think it was my *duty* to give people the truth. And the harder it was, the more I felt I needed to do it. Maybe it has to do with the prophet-type gifting. But I like what you said: "sometimes the truth I want to speak isn't the truth someone needs to hear." Great point. Thanks.
Post a Comment