Thank you, AJ! This is so true. And this culture of silence is slowly throttling the great commission. Thank you for saying it out loud (pun intended). On another front, I often ponder how this culture of silence is paired with our reactiveness to issues of social justice. We cannot tell our best friends or our pastors that they are dishonoring us, the Scriptures. the or Christ himself, but we can stand on a rooftop with a sign about a current issue. I suspect it is an over-correction.
Excellent! I just……more impact in this moment than I can find words right now. Need to read a couple more times and sit with your words. But above all, thank you.
Oftentimes, a famous phrase echoed throughout the rooms in our church and home is “you will become what you allow”… There is much cost in speaking up, but far worse is the tragedy of allowing our worst to rule. True love is saying what needs to be said.
This transported me right to Matthew 22, the second commandment, the call to love. Something I’ve been sitting with for a while now (how love relates to forgiveness & what loving my neighbor actually looks like). I am still relatively “fresh” in my walk, a baby-Christian some might say, but I have moments of strong apologetics & honesty, and then I find myself choosing harmony. I’m convicted each time. I have warred with a witch, shouting scripture and praise over her words of death & deception, but when my coworker looked me dead in the eyes and told me she was a spell casting witch, I just got up & left to go pray—certainly this was passive hatred on my part.
+would love to hear your thoughts on how we redeem those moments where didn’t speak up. Or how/if we can be truth-tellers in our silence.
Thank you, AJ! This is so true. And this culture of silence is slowly throttling the great commission. Thank you for saying it out loud (pun intended). On another front, I often ponder how this culture of silence is paired with our reactiveness to issues of social justice. We cannot tell our best friends or our pastors that they are dishonoring us, the Scriptures. the or Christ himself, but we can stand on a rooftop with a sign about a current issue. I suspect it is an over-correction.
So true, Sandra! Never connected those two before. Our unwillingness to speak about evil as a way to silence the gospel.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I am so guilty of silence and this has really challenged me. God bless you
You and me both, Cathy! Lord have mercy.
My gosh AJ. There is so much I want to say but I’ll just simply say your words are absolutely life giving. Thank you for every sentence here.
Yay! Overjoyed, J.M. that you found it helpful. It was helpful for me to write it.
Excellent! I just……more impact in this moment than I can find words right now. Need to read a couple more times and sit with your words. But above all, thank you.
You are welcome, Jeff!
A.J., this is an excellent essay, Wow!
Hey, thanks, Mel! God’s grace on your week.
Oftentimes, a famous phrase echoed throughout the rooms in our church and home is “you will become what you allow”… There is much cost in speaking up, but far worse is the tragedy of allowing our worst to rule. True love is saying what needs to be said.
This transported me right to Matthew 22, the second commandment, the call to love. Something I’ve been sitting with for a while now (how love relates to forgiveness & what loving my neighbor actually looks like). I am still relatively “fresh” in my walk, a baby-Christian some might say, but I have moments of strong apologetics & honesty, and then I find myself choosing harmony. I’m convicted each time. I have warred with a witch, shouting scripture and praise over her words of death & deception, but when my coworker looked me dead in the eyes and told me she was a spell casting witch, I just got up & left to go pray—certainly this was passive hatred on my part.
+would love to hear your thoughts on how we redeem those moments where didn’t speak up. Or how/if we can be truth-tellers in our silence.
Woah, I’ll need to read this a few times! Thanks
So glad it was helpful, friend.
AJ. This was so great to read. I just received your book and am looking forward to diving into it