I get a lot of questions about many things in the Bible. How much water do you need to be baptised? How will we look when we move from this life to eternity? Is dancing sinful? May I ink this or that picture on my body? How is God involved in all of life’s pain and hardship?

And it’s good that we get certainty about we believe. It’s right that we understand well what our belief in God is all about. However, what we shouldn’t allow is to become involved with people who do not know the truth and want to convince us to believe like they believe.

There are many people out there selling false truths and who are very passionate about it. Sometimes it’s better to keep your point of view to yourself, because to get involved in an argument with such a person is like casting our diamonds before the swine. It will not have a positive outcome.

Even the Bible warns us against this: ²³Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights.

We must make sure that we know what we believe in. When someone comes to us with a load of empty truths, we should be able to distinguish what is true and what is simply nonsense.

And that’s the problem. We’re easily swayed in our faith, because we’re not sure what we believe in. We run after this and that preacher, because we believe they’re right. But are they? Are their words in line with the words of the Bible?

It is our responsibility to make sure that we don’t follow false preachers. We can’t say one day that it’s not our fault for believing wrong, because we believed what this or that leader said.

If I see my leader is in the process of leading me right to the edge of a cliff, I will come to my senses somewhere along the way and simply go in another direction. I will not allow him to lead me over the edge and lose my life in the process.

The same for the truths we believe in. We ourselves must go and make sure in the Word of God. We must know what is right and what is wrong. We must be able to distinguish when someone is talking in line with God’s truth or when they’re talking nonsense. And we get this information in God’s Word. If we don’t keep our noses in God’s Word every day, someone else is going to lead us by the nose.

Be sensible. Be wise. Even if you want to become involved in showing someone else the truth, you must realise that it may simply not work. Sometimes you need to keep your sentences short, or even not speak at all. Sometimes you have to keep dead quiet and go. If you’re going to speak here, it will only unleash a storm and there will be no winners in that.

It’s good to reason, because we can learn from one another and help one another get closer to the truth. But sometimes we need to know that the environment is not friendly enough and that the outcome can be very negative, leading to a big fight. Then we should rather keep quiet and count our words and actually just leave it.

Silence is an answer too.

Scripture
2 Tim 2:22-26

Reflection
Do you have the wisdom?
When do you need to speak?
When should your rather say nothing?

Prayer
Lord, it’s not always easy not to say anything. It’s not easy to know when to keep quiet and when to stand up for what I believe in. Please give me wisdom and help me to distinguish. Amen.