The Risk of Speaking Unpleasant Truth

Scripture – Acts 7:57-8:1: ⁵⁷At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, ⁵⁸dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. ^8:1And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.

Reflection: – Unfortunately, this is a common reaction to unpleasant truth. The leaders had no defense against what Stephen had said. So they covered their ears and began yelling. This blocked out the unpleasant sounds from Stephen. They rushed at him, dragged him outside and killed him.

Sometimes I’m afraid to speak words of truth because I’m afraid of the irrational reaction of people. The war in Iraq, for example, is clearly a huge blunder on our part. Thousands of American and Iraqi lives have been lost because our president wanted to have a war. There was no good reason for it. The American people were deceived as a way to justify it. Yet in the face of such an immoral act, I have remained mostly silent.

Lord, please save me from the arrogance that says my way is the way. At the same time, give me courage to speak unpleasant, unpopular truth when it’s called for.

What keeps you from speaking the truth? How do you decide when to speak and when to keep silent?