Honest Abe: The Sin of Silence

One of my favorite Abraham Lincoln quotes is, "To sin by silence makes cowards of men." Spot on Abe! How many times have you and I sinned by our silence? For example:

Someone tells a joke in poor taste...we simply say nothing even though we're not amused.

We overhear someone at church, or a neighbor gossiping and do not nip or correct it.

We talk about someone we know to others instead of talking to them face to face.

We freeze when someone makes a racial or clearly prejudicial statement. We reason it's better to let ignorance prove itself.

A Christ-follower offers inaccurate information about a politician or celebrity and we sit quietly.

Someone passes on one of those (usually politically motivated) urban legends or myths and we forward it to others without ever confirming it's truth on Snopes or similar truth-telling websites.

A friend cites facts about pending legislation or a specific politician that is just flat out wrong. We reason it's not worth the time even though we know according to fact check.org they are completely wrong.

We are often highly critical of the Apostle Peter's failure to stand up for Jesus on the night of his false arrest, but fail to realize we have done worse than Peter many, many times. At least Peter was broken about his denial of Christ.

We don't set out to sin by silence. It actually starts slowly. One, two, three and then before we know it a thousand comments or conversations have passed us by without correction, challenge or dispute. Usually our silence is motivated by a desire to remain in the shadows, or to be polite and not ruffle feathers.

Just the other day a well-meaning, public servant and fellow Christ-follower brought up the citizenship question of President Obama and declared that his birth certificate had been falsified. He said it with so much conviction and force that I sat in silence hoping the moment would pass. Even though our conversation was about something else, why didn't I challenge his comments? Why didn't I call him by name and open my computer and take him to documentation that proves this rumor is completely and totally false? Why did I sin in silence? By the way if you want to see it click here: Factcheck.org

Christ-followers are to be truth tellers. We are supposed to be known for the truth and erring on the side of truth. We don't get a pass for taking the road of least resistance because it's uncomfortable or unpopular to challenge something we know is not true or accurate. I don't have to know how the Apostle Peter felt by that fire in the outer courtyard when he denied the truth. Sitting in silence is no different than the denial of truth.

May God forgive us when we fail to speak up or challenge known falsehoods, lies and pure rumor or gossip. May He prick our conscience so we that we confess our failures when it happens so we don't allow ourselves to become anesthetized to a life of silence. And may He give us the humility to make sure that whenever we do challenge or speak to a falsehood, rumor or lie that our motivation and words are in love! Paul writing in Ephesians 4 sums it up for those of us who follow Christ:

¹⁵Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,